Nail biter !

Match report

South v Leicester Forest RFC 11/9/16

The weather conditions were perfect, the pitch in fine condition and the players primed and ready to go, for the opening match of season against Leicester Forest !

South had the brightest start with Callum at fly half, slashing through the middle of the Forest midfield and then having to run a good 35 metres to finish a beautiful try under the posts. He kicked the conversion making it -

7-0 to South !! Fantastic start.

From the restart South gained possession again and fed wide to the left wing, where Luke made a barging run only to be caught foot in touch for a Forest lineout.

A series of penalties followed from the lineout for handling in the rucks by South and Forest started to make ground and keep possession. They forced play towards our try line but stout defence from the South boys kept them at bay, with Callum making a great clearance.

South were awarded a scrum near the 10 yard line, which was always going to be a test against a big Forest pack. Reece, the general, made a quick break and fed to Alex who tried jinking through but was stopped, Forest recycled and it took some excellent tackling from Callum and Charlie to stop their attack.

However Forest had the taste for the try line and forced play toward the middle of the park, there persistence in attack led to a try in the right hand corner. Conversion missed.

7-5 to South

Rucks and mauls were the order of the day after the restart with play evenly matched in the middle of the paddock. Joe did some cracking spoiling work and made a great run at the defence, with Luke again also joining him on a barrelling run. Play went toward the Forest 22" and eventually the ball popped to Luke who was unstoppable for the line and he smashed over for Souths second try ! Con missed.

12-5 to South.

No further scores in the first half - South leading.

The half time oranges did the trick and at the start of the second half South came flying out of the blocks, with Joe making a barnstorming run at Forest, but lacked some support to capitalise on the gaps other wise a score was in the offing.

It was a physical encounter with a few players get bumped and bruised along the way. Cam led the charge and made some hammering runs at the forest pack, George and Joe joining in the fun and some crunching tackles making sure Forest knew they were in a game.

Forest were not done though and their big centre was making life difficult in the backs he slotted through making the score -

12-10 to south conversion missed.

South were forced to defend again on the restart after some sloppy handling put pressure on our back line. Forest sensing another try, attacked strongly down the right wing , but were stopped dead by the tag team of Cam and Jack, who halted their drive in the maul and won the scrum for South. The ball spun wide and from good hands fed Callum who sprinted out wide for his second try ! Con narrowly missed but making it -

17-10 to South

Forest never gave up through and made it a very tight finish by outstripping us out wide and slotting over for try near the posts. Their kicker missed the crucial conversion making the final score a nail biting -

17-15 to South !!!

Well done lads, for the the first game of the season it was a great test and Forest were a big strong team. Your showed some great spirit and some brilliant phases of play. We just need to improve our handling skills and make sure our lines of running in attack cause the problems. Brilliant start to the season !!!!

Today's man of the match was Callum Smith, who had a stormer!!! Two tries, a conversion and multiple tackles and runs, fantastic well done !

Huge thanks to Martyn Disney who sponsored the game. A True gent !