South use this season's "Get out of Jail" card.

South were on a “hiding to nothing” as they travelled to bottom club Bedford Athletic - expected to win well and gain a four try bonus point. It didn’t, however, turn out that way as they struggled to overcome an energetic and committed home side who gained in confidence as the game went on. South’s saving grace was a last play, last minute unconverted try by Harry Owens to take the victory by 20-22.

South were down to the barebones as injury and unavailability struck as four were missing from the usual backline and two from the pack, players out of position and no recognised number 7. George Ord, Jack Owens and Seb Green made up the bench.

An invidious comparison could have been made with the Gloucester v Tigers game from Friday night as South were dominant at scrum, line out and rolling maul, but completely disjointed in virtually every other department. Poor decision making, first up tackling, midfield distribution and passing under pressure were evident from a team who looked like they had never played, or indeed trained together recently.
All these facets played into the hands of the home side who came back from an early South 0-14 advantage to lead to 20-17 with only five minutes left on the clock and an embarrassing South defeat was on the cards.

Ed Hopkins scored a try (his first for the club) from a rolling maul and Ricky Aley dotted down after the South pack had driven the home eight over their own line. Mark Lord converted both. South proceeded to butcher a number of chances to extend their lead and Lord missed a penalty just before the interval although they went in with a 0-14 lead.
Bedford came out inspired and put pressure on South. Two interceptions of wayward South passes nearly let Athletic in to score, but great covering tackles by Dave Weston and Rhoddy McNaughton thwarted their ambitions. Bedford did convert a penalty by James Mortimer, who also added a try and conversion soon after to take the score to 10-14. Although Mortimer missed a straightforward penalty, full back Ben Johnson scored a try again converted by Mortimer to take the home side into a 17-14 lead on the hour and their tails were up. Mark Lord responded with a penalty, but Mortimer cancelled out the advantage with a penalty of his own to leave Bedford in a 20-17 lead with minutes left.
Up stepped Harry Owens to rescue South with the winning score after the pack had gained good ground with captain Will Ward leading the charge.

Although a “win is a win” the level of performance fell way below the standards expected from a South Leicester team in this league. Discipline (two more yellow cards) and levels of fitness of some players was disappointing. The home side, although putting up a spirited performance, didn’t create much - what they did do, however, was capitalise on the many South mistakes.
South should have really been out of sight at half time, but nearly paid the ultimate price for their collective poor performance.

Squad: Weston, Lamb, Owens H, Gates, Smith, Lord, Aley, Bale C, McLaurin, Langan (Ord), Ward, Bale S, Stone, McNaughton, Hopkins (Owens J).

Moving on - Bournville at home next week.