Rugby Lions Match Report

Sutton Coldfield 9 Rugby Lions 10

Rugby Lions, in the form of the Rugby Crusaders team, completed this fantastic season by winning the Warwickshire Senior Cup in dreadful weather at Broadstreet against a Sutton Coldfield first team who have swept all before them in winning their league this season on Sunday 29th April 2012

Lions effectively fielded a scratch side who have never played in this formation before. Their one warm-up game was last Saturday – against Rugby St Andrews who thankfully don’t cry off like so many other sides scheduled to meet the Crusaders – but five of today’s starting line up were then on first-team duty.

So Sutton would have looked like favourites before the kick off on a well-grassed and thankfully well-draining pitch.

And the good support for both sides were well protected by the long and, more importantly, very wide stand roof.

The game was of much better quality than one would have expected in the conditions with the rain sheeting horizontally and erratically straight across or from corner to corner of the pitch.

The game was tight from start to finish with both sides trying to find the right way to play the conditions with Rugby’s Adam Canning and Joss Andrews kicking to good effect for position.

Andrews’ drop goal attempt was blown wide before Sutton just failed to reach a skidding ball and touch down for a try before the deadball line.

Eventually on 25 minutes, a clever crosskick from Canning saw Beau Carney sprint through to get the first score, Canning adding the conversion for 7-0.

Sutton Coldfield probably had the edge in speed in the backs which caused Rugby some discomfort and they deserved their penalty by Alex White just before the break with the score now 7-3.

On the resumption, there was a virtual flurry of scores in the third quarter.

First, White kicked a second penalty for Sutton after Rugby lock Frankie Fenwick-Wilson was sinbinned.

Rugby responded by making three replacements in 5 minutes, bringing on Ben Nuttall, James Daniel and Emyr Lewis.

But another White penalty saw Rugby trail for the first time at 7-9 with an hour played.

Rugby came back strongly and a minute later Canning’s low penalty from 41 metres restored his side’s lead at 10-9 and that proved to be the end of the scoring – but not of the tension.

White missed his next penalty attempt and a superb effort by the Rugby side repelled the series of attacks this Sutton side mounted on the back of so many dominant wins throughout their successful season that sees them replace Lions in National 3 Midlands in September.

Lions Player of the Season Nigel Mukarati joined the fray to make a big impact and Rugby were able to play enough of the game in Sutton territory to hold their opponents at bay as the time began to run out.

The Broadstreet clock was showing actual time played so it was very frustrating to see the referee twice playing on after the ball was dead with the timer showing everybody except the otherwise efficient officials that the game should have been over.

But skipper Mike Rust’s men were not going to let the game slip away now and the whistle was eventually blown to prompt huge roars in the crowd and hardly any quieter shouts of triumph among a very impressively determined Rugby squad.

The Rugby Crusaders, coached by Richard Gee and Mark Ellis, have had a difficult season out of the limelight and with too few fixtures so it is brilliant for their season to have ended on such a well deserved high.

They all did Rugby proud today.

Rugby: Mountford, Tunnicliffe, Ellis, Canning, Rust, Andrews, Needham, Greenbury, Pearl, Walton, Tucker, Fenwick-Wilson, Tait, Carney, Saunders. Reps: Bennett, Nuttall, Shore, Mukarati, Young, Lewis, Daniel

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