Broadstreet RFC 22 Longton RFC 34

After a poor performance losing to mid-table Old Northamptonians knocking their confidence, Broadstreet had a promotion battle against Longton RFC to look forward to this week. Their chances were buoyed however by the return of Cameron Pimlow at fly-half which allowed Nick Thatcher to return to scrum-half which pushed Shropfer onto the bench. The bench saw Chris Zutic come on to the bench for Stew Hendry, whilst Dan Phillips and Ed Junior lost out with the inclusion of Gary Challis at centre.

Pimlow’s comprehensive performance in the opening half hour of the match showed exactly what Broadstreet were missing in their loss against ON’s when he put Longton RFC firmly on the back foot for the majority of the 1^st half. He opened the scoring after 4 minutes with a long-range penalty after Longton were judged to have committed the first of many ruck infringements that day. 15 minutes later he slotted his second penalty from an equally impressive distance, before chasing down a breakaway from Longton’s speedster Chris Tenucci just yards from the line dragging him into touch and saving a certain try. 6-0

On 22 minutes Chris Tenucci broke again and was dragged down in the opposite corner, once more just yards from the line, Andy Tee believing the ball was out because Tenucci’s pace had shaken off his own support as well, picked it up from the base of the ruck and earned him self a contentious yellow card. Longton RFC however could not convert from that penalty and Pimlow punished them with his 3^rd and longest penalty kick of the day to extend the lead to 9-0

Broadstreet seemed to have had all the possession and territory for the majority of the 1^st half but could only manage a single break from their fly-half for their efforts, this was a combination of good defence and some poor penetration from the Broadstreet back-line. With a couple of minutes left of the first half a loose pass from Street’s centre was caught by Longton winger Hendry Vaka who cantered 50 metres to the undefended Street line. Chris Buck added the extras and another penalty when Nigel Mukarati was contentiously judged to have illegally turned over the ball just before the halftime whistle blew, surprisingly sending the vistors in 10-9 up at half-time.

Half Time  Broadstreet RFC 9 - Longton RFC 10

 

Longton began the second half with a similar flurry of points that they finished the first half with. Hendry Vaka scored his second try on his debut when he cut a good line off the wing through the Street line and past the covering defence to score worryingly completely untouched, Chris Buck easily converted the extra points. The referee showed his second yellow to Longton hooker George Glenn for another ruck infringement and Pimlow bagged his fourth penalty of the game. 12 - 17

However despite going a man down Longton began making in roads with by utilising their strong runners, Num 8 Gareth Rawlings popped up in the centre running hard at the Street centres on the half-way line, however the pass to him was poor and behind him. However, Rawlings reached back with large ‘Inspector Gadget arms’ and collected the ball without breaking stride, cruising past the two surprised ‘Street centres before gassing fullback Tetley to score beneath the posts. Chris Buck added the conversion. 12 - 24

With just 15 minutes gone in the 2^nd half Longton scored their fourth try in 20 minutes when Longton danger man Tenucci once more coasted through the ‘Street midfield before offloading to fullback Grant Hallam who touched down in the corner, Chris Buck superbly converted the subsequent kick. Longton continued to add the pressure with stong strike runs from the likes of inside centre Scott Rawlings who seemed to think nothing of the Street attempted tackles. This field position allowed Chris Buck to add another penalty. 12 - 34

 

Try-scoring-Carl-Southwell-waits-to-pick-and-go

Broadstreet made a good tactical swap with the limited time left when they brought scrum-half Schropfer on for winger Matty Fielder, with Nick Thatcher moving out to Fielder’s wing. It was Thatch in the back-line who finally seemed to make some in roads into the Longton defence with a number of breaks setting up field position for a couple of late ‘Street attacks. Longton Hooker Glenn was given a second yellow by the trigger-happy referee for bringing down a maul and Broadstreet began a number of pick’n’goes from the resulting penalty which led to a standard Ben Dawes crash-over try. 17 - 34

Replacement Chris Zutic was the last to receive time in the bin and when Andy Skene limped off with a pulled hamstring Broadstreet were forced to play out the end of the game with 13 men. However, ‘Street continued to finish strongly through their forwards and Carl Southwell wrapped up the game with another try. 22-34

Full Time Broadstreet RFC 22 - Longton RFC 34

Luckily Broadstreet have a week off from the league to iron out a few kinks which seemed to have cropped up since the beginning of the season, however despite their sudden slump in form they still only remain 1 win off the top of the table and the title race is still very much on.

MotM –

Hendry Vaka’s two tries either side of half time really switched momentum in favour of the visitors

DotD –

Andy Tee for last week’s kick dead and his sin-binning today