Surrey triumphed 43 -12 in the County Championship final at Twickenham.
Luke Coltman and James Padley (Oakham) scored tries for the county with Mark Lord adding a conversion.
All ten South players in the squad had a taste of the action on the hallowed turf (see photograph.

Leicestershire find it hard going at Twickenham.

The County rugby squad took on Surrey in the final of the County Championship Shield competition at Twickenham directly after England had beaten the Barbarians. The outcome (just like the Tigers) was disappointing as they went down 43 -12 in a game where they didn’t really show their full potential.

Leicestershire started brightly continually pressing the Surrey defence via Ross Oakes (Hinckley) and Mitch Culpin (South Leicester). They scored first as the pack won quick ball to enable Mark Lord (South Leicester) to throw out a long overhead pass for James Padley (Oakham) to score in the left hand corner. Lord was unable to add the extras.
Surrey responded with an unconverted try after their kicker had missed three penalties and couldn’t add the resultant conversion. Generally Leicestershire didn’t get the rub of the green from the referee, although the rolling maul made an appearance and captain Luke Coltman (South Leicester) rumbled over for Leics second try. Lord converted. Kris McFedries (South Leicester) then had a perfectly good try disallowed by the referee for an apparent forward pass. A 17-5 scoreline at that stage would have been a fine reward for the Leics side, especially after the great efforts made by the forwards in securing quality possession, but it wasn’t to be. Surrey came back with a converted try to tie the game 12 -12 at half time.

The second half was another matter as the Surrey side stepped up a gear and starved Leics of any worthwhile possession scoring a penalty and four converted tries to win the title. The County had to rely on gaining possession from wayward kicks or mistakes to gain any ground. Good work by Ben Avent (Hinckley) and Ian Smith (Syston) kept hopes alive while tremendous tackling from McFedries and Matt Fearn (Hinckley) kept Surrey from adding to their tally.
Coach Paul Walsh (Hinckley) ran the bench in the latter stages in order to get back into the game and make sure all the replacements had a taste of the action on the famous turf. Unfortunately Surrey withstood the pressure and were worthy winners on the day.

A disappointing end to a tremendous County campaign, but with a young side Leicestershire should be in contention again and in the future.