The Lions gain a loosing bonus point against Crowborough.

Conditions were good, with little wind, brilliant sunshine and a pitch that was not too claggy from the recent rains.
From the starting whistle in looked like an even contest, hard rucking and crunching defence, with both sides seeking to use the ball and well as both backs and forwards to search for an opening so it was real pity to lose Matt Michael after only four minutes with a damaged shoulder. The first score came from such adventure, when a hard tackle on the Crowborough centre sent the ball spinning into the air. Quick witted as ever, Adam Michael seized it and ran half the pitch to score under the posts, providing an easy conversion for Blair Charge.
The Lions had a real problem with line outs, 4 times in the first 10 minutes their ball being nicked by their opponents, who had no trouble on their own throw in. Their riposte came from one of the many penalties that punctuated the match; a ball into the 22, a catch and drive, then four phases of rucking took Crowborough over the line by the corner flag. The home side’s kicker missed the difficult conversion, leaving the Lions with a thread of a lead until Crowborough repeated the manoeuvre to double their tally. A game regularly punctuated by penalties allowed Blair Charge to keep the Lions going, slotting two good kicks between the sticks to give them a half time lead of 13-10.
Perennial problems for the Lions came into play in the 2nd half; indiscipline got Hinkins a sin bin, then the loss of a key player, Luke Armstrong, to a blood injury, left a player at full back, a position which in which he clearly lacked experience. When the Crowborough fly half split the Lions defence with a grubber his failure to deal with that left the defence up in the air and try hard – and they did – there was no way to stop another home score. It was a saver their kicker let them down, as he did bar once, throughout the game.
The Lions had the real edge in the pack, which dictated the need to play in their opponents 22. They tried, but too many times their inability to secure their own ball at the line out took the pressure off Crowborough and allowed them to clear. A chance came when another spilt ball from the home side fell to Wes Bull, but to run half the length of the pitch pursued by fleet footed wingers proved too much and not enough support arrived in time to turn that into a score.
Throughout the next quarter promising attacks by the forwards – now missing Wes Bull – failed through a combination of stout defence and the inevitable infringement after continuous phases of pick and go. Crowborough’s final blow came from the break down of a Lion’s attack, a pass going astray, then minutes of scrappy rugby followed by a couple of feeble tackles that allowed the Crow’s second row to cross the try line.
Penalties abounded throughout the game, a pair of consecutive high tackles earning a yellow card for the Crowborough No. 13, a fiery New Zealander. The way he reacted to that, abusing the referee, turned it red in what was a very stupid sending off. Shortly afterwards another effort from the Charge boot closed the gap to just two points, but from then on the Lions could rarely get far enough up the field to make their forward supremacy count.
They did want to win, electing to go for a corner line out and a catch and drive in the dying stages instead of trusting to a kick and a one point lead. That was the last time they lost their ball to the opposition jumpers so it was a disappointing defeat, another match our boys could have won, yet seemed too lacklustre in the closing stages to press home.
Even from that some comfort can be taken from individual performances, of which there were several, even if the whole did not quite gel. If I had to single out one player who for effort and commitment showed the standard to which the whole team should aspire, it was Anthony Hart.

Reporter David Donachie