There were a few changes from the side that gave South Leicester a close run last week. James Taberer and Colm Jones moved into the front row because of injuries to Roffy (broken ribs) and Liam McCrea, whilst a slipped disk for Ash Lighthowler meant that Stew Hendry was called up to Number 8. Pete Bicknell being knocked unconscious last week adds to the growing list of injuries so Dan "Chaemo" Phillips makes a return to the starting line up whilst veteran Matt Dearden was required to provide cover on the bench.

TEAM: Ben Dawes, Liam McCrea, Colm Jones, Rich Chaplin (C), Tom Greevy, Chris Dodd, Chris Zutic, Stew Hendry, Jordan Simpson, Scott Harman, Andy Funnell, Gary Challis, Todd Freemantle, Dan Phillips, Ian Renard SUBS: Matt Dearden, Ed Simkiss, Ed Mbaraga 

Broadstreet falling foul of the referee's whistle was a common theme throughout the match and it began soon after kick-off with winger Evan Morgan bagging a 40 metre penalty a couple of minutes into the start of the match. 15 minutes later Chris Zutic was judged offside when he swiped his hand over to grab the Hinckley scrum-half as he played the ball, though he missed and did not affect play Morgan had no problem punishing 'Street further by adding another 3 points to the tally with a 20 metre kick in front of posts. 6-0

Zutic earned some redemption though by finishing off a move started by a powerful carry from Stew Hendry on the Hinckley 40 metre line, he broke down the right flank before interlinking with both Dawes and Dodd who carried the ball deep into the Hinckley 22 before being brought down. A couple of quick phases in field and a deft pass to Zutic on the charge meant that the supporting openside was able to round the would-be defenders to score under the posts. Scotty Harman easily collected the extra 2 points and put Broadstreet into the lead on 25 minutes. Unfortunately, as has often been the case this season, Broadstreet were not able to secure their position for any serious period of time nor bring themselves in line with the referee's interpretation of the breakdown as he continued to award penalties against them, this time Morgan was able to retake the lead with another solid kick. 9-7

On the half hour mark Hinckley scored their first try through flanker Ben Avent but the previously reliable Morgan was not able to add the difficult conversion. As time wound down in the first half Hinckley were beginning to mount another serious push for a try and established promising field position, unfortunately for the home side 'Street defended the line well and their competition at the ruck, whilst Hinckley flooded their backline with would-be try scorers, seemed to have halted the attack. Unfortunately for tenacious scrum half Jordan Simpson his activity was deemed to be illegal and he was sent to the sin bin. Hinckley's Tom Short took over the kicking duties after coming on as a replacement to add what would surely be an easy 3 points and take his side in at half time 17-7 up. 

Unfortunately for Short, who had been a thorn in Broadstreet's side during the home fixture, he slipped during his run up and the kick flew at head height into the crowd of Broadstreet players positioned beneath the post. Dawesy plucked the ball out of the air, got the the 22 and allowed Harman to clear the lines for what should have been the end of the 1st half, however Referee allowed one last play and a driving maul from the lineout managed to get Hinckley back into threatening territory. A series of rucks spanning from one side of the pitch to the other dragged in enough 'Street defenders for Hinckley to feed full back Sam Southall in open space and, with only 5 metres to the try line, he bagged a try in the corner. 19-7

Broadstreet got off to a nightmare start in their quest to close the gap, securing the ball at a lineout they managed to get a decent trundle up the pitch whilst Hinckley prop Ross Cunningham slipped round the side and snuck into the middle of the Broadstreet maul. Luckily for Broadstreet the referee spotted the offending player and ordered him out of the rolling maul, unluckily for Broadstreet Cunningham did far more damage in exiting the maul than he was doing whilst in it and he succeeded in splitting off the tail whilst the rest of the pack continued to push up the pitch. This was compounded when the broken off tail ran into the same offside player, halting their progress and leaving them easy pickings for the Hinckley players who were now unconcerned with the runaway maul of unaware Broadstreet forwards. With the quick turnover achieved, credit to the Hinckley backs who finished well by getting the ball wide as quickly as possible feeding full back Southall at speed, who cut through the defense to score another try. Short added insult to injury by adding to the tally26-7

For the large contingent of travelling Broadstreet supporters the game felt like it was over without really beginning, surely the deficit was too large? However the Broadstreet players continued to attack the game and brought about opportunities to salvage a result. The Broadstreet pack began to dominate and brought about good field position for Todd Freemantle to threaten with a powerful break down the left wing, Scott Harman received the ball from the resulting ruck and was able to feed Chris Dodd going at a rate of knots, unstoppable from 5 metres out. Scotty bagging the extras from under the posts on 55 minutes. 26-14

Unfortunately in the process Todd received a nasty blow to the head and having made all our subs he was moved to the wing for the remainder of the match, this was compounded later in the match when he received a hospital pass from Scott Harman and was given flying lessons by a Hinckley player. Broadstreet were given a potential lifeline when Hinckley were reduced to 14 men after a man was injured after they had made all their subs, disappointingly this advantage did not last long. After catching the ball at the back of the line out Hinckley set up a maul but Broadstreet were quick to react and stopped it before it could ever start moving. However, despite the lack of threat from the extended period of static mauling, the referee's sudden hesitation to make a decision sparked the imagination of Broadstreet's very own Eddie Simkiss and he attempted to bring the maul down. Despite completely failing to do so and despite the threat of any kind of movement from the Hinckley maul, the attempt jump-started the referee's whistle and he was off to the sin bin in a flash with Broadstreet's one man advantage gone with him.

Still Broadstreet had the momentum and they were back in a threatening position utilising their own catch'n'drive to good affect and powering over the Hinckley try-line with Ben Dawes at the bottom of the pile with the ball in his hands. Crucially Scott Harman missed the resulting kick. 26-19 with supposedly 10 minutes to go.

Broadstreet seemed to think that the match was not lost with a draw a very definite possibility and they took to the attack again building position to attack for the last 5 minutes, powerhouse centre Ed Mbahahaha was looking to get on the ball and Oh no the Ref blew his whistle. Game over. 

FT 26-19 Needless to say a frustrating afternoon which ended with the Referee's watch hitting 80 a lot earlier than anyone else's.

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