South take local bragging rights

South welcomed local rivals Hinckley to "squally" Welford Road equally determined to relieve the Leicester Road outfit of two league points and negate their game in hand status. Finally back on the field after the winter sojourn South's "gargantuan forwards, dull, but effective tactics and good friend" Mark Lord were out to put the record straight and show the unusually large crowd of 70 what they could do.

As expected after the recent snowfalls the pitch was somewhat "Somme - esque" in texture which limited both sides in their ambitions. Another trigger happy referee again showed no empathy to the 36 players or the effect of the conditions.
He, however, cut a dashing figure in his sky blue and lemon outfit!
His ability to dish out six yellow cards, one converted to red in a game where many of the players from both sides know each other well having played together in the County colours was disappointing. Although it was a little fiesty at times, it was hardfought, but never nasty.
The post match exchange of a brace of pidgeons and a Cadbury's Boost and Cheesecake cemented the camaraderie between the players of each club.

Hinckley got off to the perfect start with David Howgate converting a straightforward penalty in the first minute after Dom Green had been guilty of failing to roll away from the tackle. South responded immediately after the forwards had surged into the Hinckley 22. A friendly outside break by Mark Lord around "Blogmeister General" Dignum found Tom Armstrong running a superb inside line to go over under the posts. Lord converted.
Both teams battled for supremacy in the mud, with South falling foul of the referee as both Mike March and Sam Badham cooled off on the side line. Inexplicably Hinckley failed to take advantage of the two man absence as the South defence had to step up. Howgate did, however, convert his second penalty just before half time as South were restored to a full complement of players.

Half Time a close 7-6 advantage held by South.

Early in the second period Howgate pushed Hinckley into the lead with another converted penalty. Mark Lord responded with a penalty to take South back into the lead 10-9 as Howgate missed a penalty on the hour.
The killer blow came just after the hour when the South forwards made great ground to camp inside the Hinckley 22 for a series of phases. Captain Mike March decided to probe the blindside instead of opening the play up, broke clear, offloaded to Rich Lang who in turn put Sam Badham in for the try. Celebrated by his version of a swan like dive. Delon Armitage eat your heart out!
Lord failed to convert from wide out.

The latter stage of the game was ruined by yellow cards for Keiron Collins, Tom Armstrong, D Reid of Hinckley and Mike March's second converted into red. Hinckley had the chances to score when South were again reduced to 13 men, but again failed to utilise a number of two man overlaps they had created.

When was the last time in any level of the game were five yellow and one red card awarded agains't the winning side? When can you remember a penalty count of 24 to 5 in favour of the losing side? Unfortunately, we can all remember occasions when the Referee deems himself more important than anybody else on the field, is unapproachable, but is easily swayed in his decision making by the verbose nature of some players.
South supporters stand bemused, spare a thought for the Hinckley faithful!

Man of the Match: The whole team - especially in defence.

Team: Lang, Thomas, Armstrong, Collins, Nicholson, Lord, McFredries, Bale, Sands, March, Badham, Matthews (Hemsley) Bayley, Green, Harris (James)

Unused replacement: Bailey.

Match report:Phil Lord