Round 2 East Lancashire Lions vs Hemel Stags:
East Lancashire Lions 16 Hemel Stags 52
Hemel are the early competition leaders after a ten try performance on a glorious afternoon which thoroughly entertained the Bury fans.
The visitors’ intentions were evident in the eight minute when they had a try disallowed for a forward pass but it was not long before they were on the scoreboard, although it came against the run of play.
Lions were 10 metres away from the Stags line when a wayward pass went to ground and Brendan Williams kicked on and managed to re-gather and race the length of the field to score, BJ Swindells converting.
Easts sent the kick off straight into touch and from the resulting penalty Hemel made ground towards the Lions post and on the last tackle moved the ball decisively out wide for winger Ashley Fyson to go over.
Hemel forwards of Tim Stevens and James Howlitt was making good yards in attack and Tim Stevens was awesome in he’s defensive work, putting in a mammoth amount of tackles to stop the East Lancs. attacks.
Stags were now on a roll and after strong running by the Hemel forwards Alex Brown was in support to take a short pass and race 20 metres to score near the posts.
Lions then tested the Hemel defence with a rare visit into opposing territory, stand off Paul Crook’s delicate chip over the on-coming defence just beating winger Ravi Daniels over the dead ball line.
East Lancashire started to give up possession with dropped passes which Hemel capitalised on as they worked up field and a lovely run around move saw full back BJ Swindells racing over for a try which he duly converted to give Hemel a 22-0 lead.
While it looked easy for the visitors, Lions refused to crumble and after some sustained pressure Chris Frodsham produced a lovely grubber kick which Ben Williamson followed up to score after 28 minutes.
The Lions were further let off the hook in the 35th minute when Gareth Swindells dropped the ball over the line but the Stags increased their lead when man of the match, scrum half Brendan Williams went over to give the visitors a 28-6 half time advantage.
The start of the second half saw the Lions reduce the deficit and put themselves back in the contest.
With Hemel on the attack and 10 metres out, a long pass to again move the ball wide was swooped on by Frodsham who left the chasers in his wake as he sped downfield for a thrilling score which Crook converted.
That brought renewed belief to the Lions and they were unlucky to have a try disallowed but their comeback was halted when second rower Dean Campbell stretched out to place the ball over the line, BJ Swindells duly converting to give the Stags a 34-12 lead in the 55th minute.
That touchdown seemed to finally break the East’s resistance and the Stags ran in a further three unconverted tries in the next eight minutes from Jarod Searson, BJ Swindells, and Alex Brown to kill the contest.
Despite the blitz, from the kick off to the last, Lions’ Leon Fifield got the ball back and from a short pass full back Darren Bamford went over in the corner.
The last 10 minutes saw both sides looking for points but it was Local lad Ashley Fyson who brought up the half century for the visitors when he went in at the corner, to which BJ Swindells landed an excellent conversion to end with a 20 point personal haul.
Tries: Williams (8, 30), Fyson (10, 79), Brown (16, 63), BJ Swindells (28, 60), Howlett (55), Searson (57)
Goals: Swindells 6
Man of the Match:Brendan Williams
Half time: 6-28
Referee: Michael Reid