Leicester Forest 17 Nuneaton 52

The Nuns backed up their 6 try success over Kettering with another 6 try, 52-17 win away to Leicester Forest RFC on the weekend. It was a powerful display from the Nuns who showed threats throughout the game with some powerful ball carrying through the middle as well as pace and threats out wide. For the second week running tries came from Tom Aherne, Stewart Davies, a Travis Bennett-Allcock brace and Ben Dawes plus a first of the season for Martin Wood. 22 points came from the boot of Lucas Brindley, who struck 9 out of 10 kicks at goal.

Playing on an AGP for the first time this season and with a stiff breeze at the back, the Nuns raced into a first minute lead with their second touch of the ball. From the kick off Forest went through a couple of phases and then kicked the ball centrally up the pitch. Max Carter fielded the ball and passed it to the on rushing Davies who stepped a number of defenders to dot down under the posts leaving Brindley with a straight forward conversion, 0-7.

The hosts hit back on 7 minutes when they moved the ball wide to wing Devon Constant who scored out wide and Jon Boden added the conversion bringing the scores even at 7 all.

With the wind at their backs the Nuns kept the hosts pegged bag in their half and were able to exert some pressure. This was turned into points in the 10th and 14th minutes when penalties were added by Brindley.

Ryan Preston picked up a yellow card in the 17th minute for a dangerous ball carry but this didn’t deter the Nuns.

The lead was further extended in the 25th minute when, after another set of possession in the home 22m, Dawes crashed over for a try which Brindley upgraded increasing the lead to 7-20.

As the half went on the Nuns maintained their pressure and turned two more penalties into points on 36 and 40 minutes to take the half time score to 26-7. The second penalty also saw the host’s winger sin binned for killing the ball.

The hosts would have wanted to start the second half well if they were to get back in the game with the wind behind them. They did just that and converted an early penalty into points after a minute taking the score to 10-26.

The Nuns though weathered they early pressure then started to put their dominance into the game. From a scrum in their own 22m, the ball was moved in field and then Stewart Davies came back down the blind side making a 40m break. He drew his man and timed his pass well to the supporting Bennett-Allcock who stepped inside two covering defenders to finish from 40m under the posts for a clinical break away try. Brindley added the extras taking the score to 10-33 after 47mins.

From the kick off, the Nuns used multiple carriers to make inroads up the field and then the ball was moved to Martin Wood who beat a couple of defenders to cross with a 22m carry. Brindley’s conversion struck an upright for his only blemish of the day but the score was now 10-38 on 49mins.

Leicester Forest managed to create some pressure again and finally, from a cross field kick to the corner Constant scored his second try which was converted to bring the score to 17-38 on 60mins.

The Nuns weren’t done though and in the 65th minute Bennett-Allcock returned a deep kick with interest making 50m and supplied an inside pass to the marauding Tom Aherne to beat the last defender and score from 22m out. With the conversion added the score was 17-45.

The last score of the game came from Bennett-Allcock who collected a hopeful Davies chip just short of the half way to out spring the defence and cross for his second under the posts which Brindley upgraded taking the final score to 17-52 on 73 minutes.

After the match Head Coach Huw Thomas added “For the second week running we put in a very good 80 minutes. The lads had a smile on their faces for the right reasons and really put the opponents under pressure throughout the game. We asked them to back up last week’s win which they have done and we now turn to a big test in a fortnight with Lutterworth as we try to close the gap on the top three.”

1 James Redman 2 Toby Dearden 3 Ben Dawes 4 Adie Hall 5 Tom Aherne 6 James Lloyd 7 Todd Bullions 8 Martin Wood 9 Max Carter 10 Lucas Brindley 11 Travis Bennett-Allcock 12 Tom Eales 13 Ryan Preston 14 Takudzwa Chawadya 15 Stewart Davies; 16 Ben Holmes 17 Augy Clarke 18 Tom Smitham