SOUTHWELL COLTS 10
LINCOLN COLTS 17
NLD COLTS GROUP 5
BY JOSEPH VERNEY
PHOTO CREDIT: JO CLEMENTS & LOUISE BUDGEN
Charlie Bargh grabbed a brace of tries as Lincoln Colts battled hard to secure a narrow 17-10 victory away at Southwell.
Finn Clements also scored a try for Lincoln and James Tomlinson slotted over one conversion.
Lincoln opened the scoring in the early stages of the first half when Bargh picked up a charge down by James Budgen to go over for an unconverted try.
After some good defence by Southwell, the hosts managed to break through the line to score a try and level the score.
Both teams battled hard to keep the other out, but it was Lincoln who managed to score next in the closing stages of the first half.
After a good lineout move, Lincoln formed a maul and drove Southwell back 20 metres.
Bargh then broke off the maul to run in for his second try of the evening to give Lincoln a narrow 10-5 lead going in at the break.
Lincoln put Southwell under a lot of pressure in the second half, but they were unable to make that spell count, with one move ending with a knock-on.
Southwell then took advantage of a good move from a penalty to score an unconverted try and level the score at 10-10.
Lincoln were determined to find a winner and, through some staunch work by the forwards the ball was reclaimed by Tomlinson. Tomlinson’s drop goal attempt floated wide of the right-hand post to give Southwell a 22 metre drop out.
As soon as Lincoln received the ball they only had one thing on their mind - score. Up stepped Clements who ran onto a loose kick to go over for a try.
Tomlinson added the extras to complete a hard-fought victory for Lincoln.
POST MATCH COMMENT
After the match Lincoln’s Director of Age Grade Rugby Chris Briggs said: “There were some great individual performances, but overall the quality of rugby we showed was below par.
“Fair play to Southwell, they did a good job at disrupting our play, particularly at the breakdown, but our handling and lack of support for the ball carrier really needs to improve.
“The lads managed to find another gear when it mattered to secure the win, but as a group we expected more.”
