The Lions Fight on to the End

The visitors, missing several first XV regulars, were 21-0 down inside 25 minutes at Old Colfeians but rallied well, particularly in the second half when the score was only 14-12 in favour of the home side.
Assistant coach Dougall, taking the side in the absence of Dave Wiggins, who was in Malta, explained: “The thing about these boys is they take great pride in playing for their hometown club.
“I’ve been at clubs where that would have ended up 60 or 70 points. Colfes are a very well drilled side and for the first 25 minutes we weren’t really in the game.
“They’re a big side but really our boys did very well to first stem the tide, and then to play some good rugby.
“We scored two good tries from the game we want to play, which is playing with width and moving the ball quickly.”
Colfes, who had won three of their first four games, took the lead inside the opening minutes with an Andy O’Malley try that was converted by Jack Potter.
By half-time O’Malley had completed a hat-trick and with Alex Smith also going over the lead was up to 26 points.
O’Malley grabbed his fourth try at the start of the second half but Deal/Bettes then began to hit back scoring the first of their tries in the corner after the home side’s Smith had been sinbinned.
A second try followed before Potter kicked the last of his three second-haf penalties to complete the scoring.
The spirit shown by Deal/Bettes was epitomised by scrum-half Juan Bautista Vila, who played despite having been in hospital with gastroenteritis earlier in the week.
Dougall added: “He’s a guy who has come in from outside the club and he showed real commitment, well beyond the call of duty, the poor lad was running on empty by the end.”