MATCH REPORT

from Loughborough Sport Men’s Rugby Programme 28th January 2023

by Loughborough University

RHYS EDWARDS

MATCH DAY:SATURDAY 14/01/2023

FULL TIME: LOUGHBOROUGH STUDENTS

RFC 24-17 HORNETS

AWAY TEAM (HORNETS)

TRIES: Pen try 17, Balkham 76, Chenoweth 80

CONVERSIONS:

HOME TEAM (LOUGHBOROUGH STUDENTS RFC)

TRIES: Sanders 32, Bell 39, Bertinet 45

CONVERSIONS: Malone 33, 40, 46, Pen 67

HALFTIME: LOUGHBOROUGH STUDENTS RFC 14-7 HORNETS

LOUGHBOROUGH STUDENTS: Martin, Sanders, Hawkins, Preen, Cadogan, Malone, Smith, Bell, Bertinet, Shine, Pichardie, Jennings, Pill, Dick

REPLACEMENTS: Nixon, Westmacott, Agbongbon, Naylor, Meredith

HORNETS: Carter, James, Dempsey, Vickery, Gliddon, Heal, Dorrington, Chase, Lane, Lloyd, Harris, Bailey, Browne, Davis, Parker

REPLACEMENTS: Francis, Caulfield, Chenoweth, Elswood, Balkham

Students secure 4pts on home soil

With a strong breeze but no rain, it was set to be an entertaining afternoon with rugby, as two sides who like to move the ball locked horns in the form of Loughborough Students & Hornets RFC.

An early onslaught from Hornets at the setpiece saw them take an early lead through a penalty try at the scrum, also warranting Loughborough prop Seb Smith a yellow card, before the Students asserted their dominance through a smart kicking game orchestrated by Reece Malone and Dan Martin. This led to good field position and 2 late first half scores giving them a 14-7 lead at the half way mark.

With pressure on the Loughborough set piece; number 8 Fergus Dick did well to control things at the base base, helping steer the Students to another score early in the second half from Jack Bertinet, after a fantastic line break from Nic Jennings. With their lead extended to 14, a successful penalty from the students fly half gave them a comfortable margin heading into the final quarter of an hour.

Whilst the students would’ve been keen to source a try bonus point, momentum swung back in the visitors direction, with a late pair of tries from Hornets drew things closer, but the students proved too strong and good value on the day to take the spoils 24-17.

After letting a 14 point lead slip at the death in the local derby with Hinckley earlier in the season, the students will look to make amends next weekend when they visit their familiar friends down the road.

By Marta Gomez

MEET THE TEAM