Clevedon 1st XV 14 Vs 40 Longlevens 1st XV

Clevedon welcomed promotion favourites Longlevens to the Vale with a much changed side, the visitors were clearly focussed on avenging defeat at the same venue last season.
Clevedon had the upper hand in the opening exchanges there well organised structure giving them good position with Will Egerton and Charlie Tucker to the fore, however the blue and golds soon ran out of patience and were punished after an aimless kick saw the visiting fullback make 60 yards , the visitors recycled the ball quickly and Clevedon were deemed to have offended, the visitors kicked to the corner and after several phases the home side ran out of defenders leaving them 0-7 down against the run of play after 12 mins.
Things went from bad to worse as the now confident visitors had momentum and made the most of it, playing multiple phases to extend there lead to 0-14 after 19 mins.
This young Clevedon side are full of character and they weren’t ready to lie down, George Angel skilfully picked off a dangerous lineout deep in his own territory, the hard running Wingrove drew in several defenders and earned a penalty, Clevedon went to their line out and drove into the 22, Where a great trundle by Largenton saw him stopped illegally 5 yards out. From the following line out the home team were held up over the line but they weren’t done there, from the goal line drop out strong play from Egerton , followed by a break from Rory McGuigan put Levens on the back foot then a clever chip into the corner saw Harrison beat the defender for his 3rd try in 8 days.
Clevedon then shot themselves in the foot as an inaccurate exit play gave the visiting Griffins a scrum on the 22 and after several missed tackles it was 7 – 21 after 30 mins.
The home side regrouped and took the game to the opposition, however the visitors were getting the rub of the green as passes went to ground or decisions went against them in promising positions, frustration got the better of Joe Williams as the home scrum half saw yellow after taking matters into his own hands after repeated cynical offences by the visitors, immediately the visiting flanker followed him to the bin following a shoulder to the head and could consider himself lucky not to see red. This spurred the home side on and from the resulting penalty they again set up the catch and drive, this was again stopped illegally and the referee had no choice but to award the penalty try and send another man to the bin.
Half time Clevedon 14 – 21 Longlevens
With a man advantage Clevedon new they had to come out of the blocks with a bang , however an early missed tackle lead to a break on the flank and the visitors capitalised to score and make it 14-28. On 47 minutes Rawle replaced Egerton and made an immediate impact offering a direct option offo f the base of the scrum however just a minute later playmaker Thomas left the field with a hamstring injury and Clevedon were really up against it with front row replacement Warren Taylor taking up position on the wing.
Clevedon weren’t finished and had the best of the next 20 minutes dominating there visitors up front , but without a regular kicker and with a makeshift backline they just lacked accuracy as time after time there set piece and powerful runners created turnovers and earned penalties only for touch to be missed or the final pass be dropped. On 70 minutes this took its toll as the Griffins scored from a well worked catch and drive, immediately after they scored again as Clevedon were now down to 14 as Tom O’Connell left the field and Clevedon had used all there subs.
The seasiders through everything they had to try and get something from the game , but they ran out of time and will be disappointed to come away from the game with nothing.

Ultimately this was a game that with more accuracy Clevedon could have got something out of, this young side need to put the same effort into training as they do into a Saturday afternoon if they want to compete with the big boys in what is becoming an ever tougher league

Tries – Harrison, Penalty
Kicks – Con Thomas x 2
Man of the match – Jack Crew