South take the honours in close Leicestershire derby

Hinckley came to Welford Road for this latest N3M clash after, by their standards, a disappointing start to their campaign. South, by comparison, are now beginning to gel after scoring 126 points in their previous two games.
Changes aplenty in the South line up with Sam Greasley, Keiran Stone, Andy Harris, Dan Hurst and Josh McLaurin all starting. Dave Weston, Rhod McNaughton and Stu Bale making up the bench.

From the onset South took advantage of the strong breeze and forced Hinckley into mistakes. The first scrummage was devastating as Hinckley went backwards, came up and referee James Clarke awarded South a penalty. Joe Glover slotted the kick, being narrowly wide with a long range effort minutes later after another Hinckley scrum indiscretion.
South took the game to the visitors who to be fair defended well – a feature of their game throughout the afternoon – and were rewarded with Simon Johnson breaking out from a maul and going in under the posts. Glover added the conversion.
Hinckley were now getting into their stride and used their backs to good effect eventually being rewarded with a penalty in front of the posts. Unfortunately Jack Turton pulled it wide although he did add a penalty later to open the visitor’s account.
South , however, had other ideas with Glover firstly adding a drop goal then another penalty to put South in the driving seat with a 16-3 lead. Gareth Clarke added a try bursting through the Hinckley defence after good work by Connor Smith and Chris Bale. The perfectly good conversion was disputed by one of the linesmen and the referee disallowed the kick.
A 21-3 lead at that stage was reward for South’s excellent approach work and dominance of the set piece especially at scrum time.
Hinckley, however, come back only after centre Howgate had butchered a certain try after fumbling with the line at his mercy. Blane Howe eventually scored after an inventive move wide to the right although Turton couldn’t add the conversion.

Half time score South 21 pts Hinckley 8 pts.

The second half was a war of attrition which is always a feature of this local derby with no quarter given by either side. Sam Greasley went close to score for South as did Devon Constant for Hinckley as both teams probed for openings. Turton added two penalties for Hinckley as the visitors got within seven for a losing bonus point. While Hinckley tried to move it wide at every opportunity South found it hard work against the wind. In my opinion they lacked the guile and inventiveness needed to unlock the solid Hinckley defence. They did go back to a tactic they do best with successive rolling mauls and scrummages as the game drew to a close. Continual pressure on the visitors line saw South in command forcing a number of penalties as Hinckley tried in vain to stem the tide. Josh McLaurin and Hinckley’s Ben Avent saw yellow for a bout of handbag swinging, but the referee didn’t really reward the dominant South scrummage. It was left to man of the match Joe Glover to snipe around the base of the scrum and dive over for the try South’s collective effort deserved. Glover unfortunately missed the conversion, but South had done enough to win an entertaining close game and deny Hinckley the losing bonus point.

Full time score South 26 pts Hinckley 14pts.

Squad: Clarke, Smith, Cave, Gates, Greasley, Graney, Glover, Bale C, Johnson, McLaurin, Hurst, Ward, Harris, Coltman©, Stone, Weston, McNaughton, Bale S.

Man of the Match: Joe Glover.