Hungry Lions so close to a precious victory

They were away at Hinckley in National League Division Two North and were leading 19-12 with 10 minutes to go.

But the Leicestershire side snatched a late try which they converted to make it 19-19 and that’s how it finished.

That means the Lions have won two, drawn one and lost one of their last four games but they remain rooted to the foot of the table. They are 16 points from safety with half their fixtures (15) now completed and next up at Solstice Park, Bretton, on January 5 are table-topping Hull Ionians.

However, based on the evidence of today’s performannce, Lions director of rugby Simon Moyle is convinced his side can beat the drop.

“If we play like we did today every week we certainly won’t be relegated,” he said. “We were outstanding. To put Hinckley under so much pressure at Hinckley was a tremendous effort.

“The lineouts were even but we had the better of the scrums with our front row of Josh Waller, Jack Askham and Charley Robinson putting in superb shifts.

“And our tackling was amazing. Everyone did their bit. All of our players deserved equal credit. It was an awesome all-round team effort. We played with energy, robustness and a great attitude and hopefully it will prove to be the catalyst for improved results in the second half of the season and a move up the table.

“It was honours even today and before the game we’d have taken that. But afterwards we felt we were unlucky not to have got the win.”

The Lions started with all guns blazing and took the lead after 10 minutes with a try by Tom Lewis after great work by the forwards. Ben Young added the conversion and it was 7-0 to the visitors.

Top four side Hinckley hit back with a couple of tries, one converted, but the Lions nosed ahead just before half-time with their second touchdown. Suva Ma’asi ran this one in from 35 yards out after good work by Dean Elmore playing out of position on the wing and Young converted to put Lions 14-12 up at the turnaround.

The Lions began the second half just as they started the first and had Hinckley on the back foot. Their pressure was rewarded when new Fijian centre Simona Veikune raced in for a third Lions try for a 19-12 lead.

That’s the way it stayed until a coupole of small errors allowed Hinckley an equalising score in the 70th minute.

Aki Lea was held up a metre short as the Lions drove hard for a winning score but Hinckley held out.