Round 11 Hemel Stags vs East Lancs Lions:


HEMEL STAGS 112 EAST LANCASHIRE LIONS 10 – Pennine Way

Hemel leapt into the play off shake up with a 20 try annihilation of the Lions but the visitors – and especially their player/coach Darren Greenwood who refused to succumb to obvious injury – deserved enormous credit for travelling down with only 13 available players and never shirking despite the points avalanche.
Stags were 22 points up inside eleven minutes and went on to post a club record summer win, with centre Ross Willoughby leading the way with six touchdowns.

At times it was men against boys but with no interchanges in the cloying heat, Lions were given nothing but praise by their opponents for refusing to throw in the towel.

Most of the home tries were scored from distance, the pace and movement in their back line proving too much but the biggest positive for the Stags was the display of 16 year old back rower George Stephens who although not among the try scorers was virtually uncontainable with his bludgeoning runs. That coupled with a great display by the 17 year old Dapo Adelwole, the future looks bright for the young Stags.

Stags had rattled up a half century by the break, winger Dave Afreh claiming a 28 minute hat trick, his first two inside eight minutes and sandwiching Willoughby’s first.

Oliver O’Mara also crossed and Mark Coulson landing three of what were to be 16 goals in a 36 point personal haul.

Centre Kirk Lambert got Easts on the board but two tries in four minutes from Willoughby and further touchdowns to Christian Champion and Coulson saw the Stags fans reaching for their calculators by the interval.

By the end, they had turned their points differential into sufficient to overtake Liverpool Buccaneers; Willoughby again twice, Luke Antos, Kane Phillips and Jack Moon all crossing with eleven minutes of the re-start.

With Greenwood encouraging and cajoling his ailing side, Lions – despite being 80-4 down – held on for 12 minutes during which time prop Simon Flemming crashed over and Greenwood converted.

As the visitors ran out of gas, Willoughby posted numbers five and six and Dapo Adelwole, O’Mara with his hat trick, Sean Johnson and Shaun Wall completed the rout.

Tries: Champion, Adelwole, Afreh 3, Willoughby 6, Coulson, Phillips, Johnson, O’Mara 3, Wall, Antos, Moon
Goals: Coulson 16
Hemel Man of the Match: George Stevens
Lions Man of the Match: Darren Greenwood
Hemels Payers Player Award: David Afreh
Half time: 50-4
Referee: S. Matthews