Four tries for Worrall-Clare as Peterborough Lions shrug off a player crisis to claim their first win of the season in breathtaking fashion

It was a first Counties 2 Midlands East win of the season for the city side who turned up at Brackley with just 14 men until player-coach Will Moore cut off a medical cast protecting his broken hand to take the field!

The home side capitalised on the early disruption, breaching the visitors' defencse twice to storm into an early two-try lead. Staring down a heavy defeat, the Lions relied on their formidable forward pack to steady the ship, dominating both the scrum and the line-out to dictate the physical battle.

This forward set-piece dominance provided the perfect platform for number eight Matthew Worrall-Clare, who put on a clinical four-try masterclass. Guided by excellent phase play and game management from scrum-half Moore and fly-half Tom Giffen, Worrall-Clare picked up from the back of a five-metre scrum for his first, before latching onto a crisp 20-metre cut-out pass from Moore to score his second before the interval.

Brackley struck within the first two minutes of the second half to score their third try, but the Lions fought back immediately. Worrall-Clare completed his hat-trick at the back of an unstoppable rolling maul to swing momentum back to the visitors.

The decisive blow came following superb Lions phase play late in the half. Working their way up the pitch, captain Kelvin Squires drew the defence and, under heavy pressure, delivered a perfect short pass to find Worrall-Clare, who crashed over five metres out for his fourth of the afternoon.

While Brackley outscored the Lions by five tries to four, their inaccuracy off the tee proved fatal, converting just one of their five scores. By contrast, Moore showed ice-cold composure to convert all four of Worrall-Clare’s tries, to secure a breathtaking one-point victory for the Lions.