Saturday 26 April 2008

Chester Vets/3'rds Tournament

The Stags took a strong squad of 21 to the tournament, supplemented by John Brookes, Chris Ainsworth and Scott MacDonald from the Longton 2nd XV, after paying their own admission, they were drawn in a group with Woodenspooners (ex Waterloo, Birkenhead Park 1st XV players with one ex England international and 2 Widnes Rugby League backs), Halton (last years beaten finalists) & Chester 3'rds (basically the Chester development side) - things didn't look too good!

The first game was against Woodenspooners (eventual winners of the tournament) who gave Longton a lesson in support play, even if they were all Vets they always had 2 or 3 players in support of the ball carrier, scoring a try in each half they ran out 12-0 winners. For the next game against Halton, things went a bit easier, against a normal club the Stags managed to get into the game, with tries by Chris Pike and 2 by Gaz Townsend, conversions by Brian Griffiths and Gaz Edwards, Longton easily finished 19-0 up. The final pool game was against Chester 3'rds, a hard fought game, with the Stags quickly going 12-0 up through tries by Scott MacDonald and Chris Harrison, one conversion by Griff to lead at half time, Chester fought back in the second half to 12-12, a draw was enough for Longton to qualify for the main competition knock out stage.

Drawn against North Wales Baa Baa's (an invitation Vets team comprising 1st team players from Mold, Ruthin, Flint and Shotton) for the first semi-final, the Stags were never in the game, with a number on injuries culminating in 3 players not fit for the game, they did well to hold it to 0-22. Woodenspooners went on to beat North Wales in the final with Scott MacDonald guesting for the winners in the second half. Chester Vets beat Chester 3'rds in the Plate final.

For a team that consisted of very few players who have played first team rugby at any level, it was a good first tournament for the Stags, many players were in their first season of senior rugby. Hopefully if pre-season training goes well then the Stags should push on to surpass this seasons third place in the Merit League.

Saturday 19 April 2008
Longton 1st XV 18 (Home) v Peterborough 1st XV 34
Longton Phoenix (No Match)
Longton Stags 12 (Home) v Bloxwich 2 XV 0
Sunday 20 April 2008
Longton Ladies (No Match)
Longton U 13's (No Match)
Longton U 16's (No Match)

LONGTON 18PTS. PETERBROUGH 34PTS.

Longton lost their last league game of the season at home to Peterbrough by 34-18pts. in a match in which they had one red card and several players injured.
The game began brightly for the home side, although it was the visitors who desperately needed to win to be sure of avoiding relegation. From some strong attacking play Longton were awarded a penalty after 2mins. and Ollie Pointon struck over a perfectly aimed kick into the stiff crosswind to put the hosts 3 points up. However, Peterbrough came straight back and were awarded a try on 6 minutes even though it was clear that Ben Robson had held the attacker up on his back, preventing him from grounding the ball properly. The conversion was successful to put the visitors 7-3pts. in front. Longton were back in the lead again only 5 mniutes later when from a line out a few metres out the forwards drove over the line with Jez Moss getting the touchdown and Mike Swetman landing a fine conversion from wide out, putting Longton 10-7pts. up.
For the next 10 minutes both sides were probing for openings as each defence was showing signs of creaking at the seams. However, the crucial turning point came midway through the half when the referee yellow carded prop, Jez Moss, for a scrummaging offence. The Longton man walked from the field but the official changed the card to red when the prop did not go over the referee to receive his instructions. The home team now had their backs to the wall and they were further weakened when Ollie Greatholder had to be helped from the field with a leg injury. Hooker George Glenn was already playing on one leg as he strode manfully to play through an ankle injury. Despite these setbacks it was Longton who were next to score when a pass out wide to winger, Chris Tenucci, saw him chip intelligently over the defence towards the try line. Just as he looked like touching down the ball took a vicious bounce sideways but Rich Thompson was on hand to win the race for the ball to score an excellent try. Mike Swetman's superb kick into the wind fell just under the crossbar but Longton now led by 15-7pts. In the 4th. minute of injury time Ollie Pointon just failed to increase the lead further with another well struck penalty and Longton went into the break just in front

Peterbrough soon hit back after only 5mins. of the second half when a speculative kick bounced awkwardly for the Longton defence straight into the arms of the grateful visitor's winger and he dived over to score. The conversion attempt failed but the score was now tight at 15-12pts. Longton continued to give 100% against the odds and Ollie Pointon landed a fine penalty to stretch the lead to 18-12pts. The away side had a man sin binned for a dangerous tackle on Ben Robson and Chris Tenucci almost scored a try when another intelligent kick saw him just fail to get the touchdown.
Longton suffered another injury blow as influential stand-in skipper, Mike Swetman, had to leave the field with a dislocated finger, causing a rearrangement of the back division, with Rick Christopherson coming on at full back. By now 3rd. team prop, John Hammersley, who was a late addition when AJ Birse was injured in the warm up, was on for Moss, resulting in flanker, Scott McDonald, having to leave the field to make way for him. Chris Ainsworth was already on for the departed Ollie Greatholder.
Longton were now under immense pressure as Peterbrough realised that they had to step up their game otherwise relegation was still a possibility. They did so by scoring a well worked catch and drive try from their forwards but the missed conversion meant that Longton still held a one point lead, 18-17pts. The pressure of being a man down and with a disrupted line up now began to tell saw Peterbrough starting to find gaps in an increasingly fragile Longton defence. Two further tries followed in a short space of time and Longton found themselves 27-18pts. down with no apparent way back. Despite a further yellow card for the visitors they managed to score a final try right on full time, the successful conversion giving them a deserved 34-18pts. victory, leaving Longton wondering what might have been but for indiscipline and a raft of injuries. They now have 10 days to get their squad fit for the Staffordshire Cup Final against Stoke at Trentham RUFC on April 30th.
Longton's final league position is 5th. and left them rueing what might have been. Dunstablians join Scunthorpe and Dudley Kingswinford in being relegated and Luctonians clinched the play off spot by finishing 2nd. They now face the daunting trip to Huddersfield from North 1 to determine who goes up into National League 3 North.


OTHER RESULT

LONGTON STAGS 12PTS. BLOXWICH 2ND.XV NIL.

A disappointing end to the regular playing season, with the ref calling the last game off 20min early due to continual dissent from the Bloxwich team. The first half kicked off with Longton on the ascendence, strong in the scrum and dominant in the lineout, even press ganging scrum half Tom Nixon to compete the line outs at No2 jumper, ably supported by Neil Pickering and Jim Goddard, he managed to take the first four opposition lineouts. The plan was to run everything wide, but due to the strong rucking and mauling the game was kept in the forwards. Both tries came from strong running from full back Paul Housley, twice he bulldozed through hapless defenders and outsprinted the chasing backs, the second try was converted by Gaz Bartlett. With Bloxwich playing their first game since a 4 week RFU ban, they were becoming upset with the hard play of Longton, after continued complaints and arguing, referee Fester had no option but to call the game off.

Man of the match was jointly awarded to Paul Housley and Tom Nixon, fine all round performances

Scorers,

Tries - Paul Housley (x2)

Conversions - Gaz Bartlett (x1)

Next week the Stags travel to Chester RUFC to take part in a 3rds/Vets tournament, starts at 12:00 PM, as there is no other game please come and support.

Saturday 12 April 2008
Longton 1st XV 16 (Away) v Loughborough Students 1st XV 48
Longton Phoenix 59 (Home) v Stoke 2nd XV 7
Longton Stags 19 (Away) v Stoke 3rd XV 7
Sunday 13 April 2008
Longton Ladies (No Match)
Longton U 13's (No Match)
Longton U 16's (No Match)

LOUGHBOROUGH STUDENTS 48PTS. LONGTON 16PTS.

Longton threw away a 13-7pts. half time lead with a sloppy second half defensive display to eventually go down by 48-16pts. at league champions, Loughborough Students, who stepped up a gear to notch a well deserved victory.

Playing slightly into a stiff breeze but in bright sunshine Longton, without key forwards Rich Thompson, Rich Kelly and Ben Grocott, matched their fitter and better drilled opponents in an evenly fought first half. With returning captain Joel Booth at the forefront the Longton pack really got amongst the home eight and forced a number of handling errors. Scrum half, Ben Robson, Longton's man of the match, was tigrish at the base of the forwards and was always probing for a break. The pressure applied by Longton saw Loughborough giving away a number of penalties, the first after 10 minutes saw Ollie Pointon's well struck kick just shave the wrong side of the uprights. However, only 2 minutes later Pointon sent a beautiful kick sailing through the centre of the posts to put Longton 3-0pts. up. Then moments later full back, Tony Wheat, was narrowly wide with a 40m. drop goal attempt. In the 19th. minute Ollie Pointon again stepped up to land a 35m. penalty to give the visitors a 6-0pts lead.
This seemed to stir the hosts into life and they began to lift the pace which resulted in a try when their inside centre stepped inside and ran between two defenders who seemed to be expecting each other to make the tackle. The ball was dotted down under the posts and the simple conversion put Loughborough 7-6pts. in front.
Longton still enjoyed the better of the territory and a 40m. penalty attempt from Mike Swetman fell just short underneath the crossbar. Two minutes into first half injury time Longton kicked to the corner from a penalty just a few metres out. From the lineout the pack, assisted by several backs, drove for the line edging forward a little at a time. When about 2m. out a short pass was given to burly back row forward, Kieran Healey who plunged over for a fine try. Ollie Pointon's conversion sent Longton 13-7pts. up into the half time break.

The second half saw Loughborough change their tactics and they now began to move the ball wide at pace bringing in blindside runners in support to produce a tidal wave of attackers. The change paid off when only four minutes into the half they scored a try in the corner which was converted with an excellent kick to put the home team 14-13pts. in the lead. Then, 10mins. later, a change of angle in the centre saw a similar try to the one in the first half as the Longton defence failed to pick up the runner and a try was scored under the posts and with a successful conversion, the score now took on a different complexion at 21-13pts. Longton produced some strong attacking play from their pack and looked like driving over but, in the end, the home team were prepared to sacrifice a penalty. Unfortunately, Ollie Pointon's kick drifted just wide of the uprights. However, 2 minutes later another driving maul from most of the Longton team saw the hosts give away another penalty in a similar position which, this time, Ollie Pointon sent sailing through the posts to make the score 21-16pts. and Longton looked to be back in the match.
Approaching 60mins. Loughborough stretched their lead to 24-16pts. with a penalty and the Students' superior fitness was beginning to tell as wave after wave of fast flowing attacks followed and in the last period of the game 4 more tries were scored as Longton's weary defenders repeatedly failed to make their first-up tackles and in the end the league champions ran out comfortable winners by 48-16pts. Longton's one injury concern from the game was a wrist injury for full back, Tony Wheat, who had to leave the pitch 10mins. before the final whistle.
Despite this result Longton remain in fourth place with one match remaining, next week's home game against Peterbrough who are one of four teams battling over the last relegation place.

STAFFORDSHIRE MERIT TABLE 1

LONGTON PHOENIX 59PTS STOKE 2NDXV. 7PTS.

Longton Phoenix continued their good season with an impressive and emphatic win over Stoke 2nd.XV by 59-7pts. with the ever improving Ally Whiston getting a hat trick of tries and Grant Hallam scoring 19 points from one try and seven conversions.
Gareth Townsend, Lee Holford and Simon Clarke also got on the try list and impressive performances came from Christian Wainwright, Scott Hurley, Matt Lovatt and Rob Wheat.

Longton Stags 19 Pts vs Stoke 3rd XV 7 (Away)
Another hard fought victory for the Stags in the wind, rain, hail, sleet and mud at Hartwell Lane. With Longton dominating the set pieces, Stoke excelled at the breakdowns, stealing countless balls in the maul. The first tray was scored by Jack Warrington, first team squad member coming back from injury, he broke from a maul close to the Stoke line and charged over to make it 5-0. Within a few minutes Stoke had scored, from their first venture into the Longton half, a couple of missed tackles and a try under the posts, with the conversion 5-7. Near the end of the half, the ball came out from the scrum to centre Jon Mathias, who ran back towards the forwards and skipped past the frailing Stoke defence to touch down, with Gaz converting the Stags went into half time 12-7 up.

With sterling half time words by Gaz Edwards and Paul Green, Longton began to get the edge in the second half, even suffering from replacing half the pack due to the high numbers turning up for a game each week. The final try was midway through the half, centre Jon took the ball outwide, evading 2 tackles to pass the ball inside to winger Chris Harrison, who sprinted in from 40m to score under the posts, with Gaz converting 19-7. The game was stopped early due to a serious injury to a Stoke player.

Next week ithere s a home game vs Bloxwich 2nd XV

Man of the match was awarded to Julian Morris, good running on the wing, big hits at flanker and clean takes in the line out.

Scorers,

Tries - Jack Warrington (x1), Jon Mathias (x1) & Chris Harrison (x1)

Conversions - Gaz Bartlett (x2)

Saturday 5 April 2008
Longton 1st XV (No Match )
Longton Phoenix (Cancelled) v Walsall 2nd XV
Longton Stags 12 (Away) v Newcastle 3rd XV 7
Sunday 6 April 2008
Longton Ladies ?? (Away) v Olney Ladies ??
Longton U 13's 10 (Away) v Congleton U13's 10
Longton U 16's 27 (Home) v Congleton U16's 10

Longton Stags 12 Pts vs Newcastle 3rd XV 7 (Away)

With GEC declining to play the stags, a local derby with Castle 3rds was arranged for the third time at Lilleshall Road. Both teams turned up with big squads and it turned out to be a hard fought game with the Stags just edging it. Longton kicked off with the wind and put Castle under pressure early on, but a strong scrum and hard tackling held off any progress. The first score was after 20 mins, scrum half Matt Lovett, broke from a maul, looped round the defending tacklers and passed out to centre Sean O'Neil, clear in space he drifted effortlessly over the line for the first try 5-0. With so much tackling it was a shame the Newcastle score came from a missed tackle, to score under the posts 5-7. From a lineout in the Newcastle half, Tom Nixon took a clean ball, from the resulting drive Matt passed the ball down the line, centre Sean saw a gap and took it, being tackled near the line, he passed the ball of the floor to the charging Tom Nixon, finishing a move he started with a well deserved try, converted by Gaz Bartlett 12-7.

With many 8 substitutions during the second half the game petered out with no further score, Longton finally started to dominate the ageing Castle scrum and Mike Swetman often broke the line, Paul Green probably had the best chance, taking the ball in his own 20m, be broke countless tackles to take the ball to the Castle 20m, but the legs couldn't quite take him over. Fester blew up with 10 mins to go at Newcastle's request to mark up Longton's third win at Newcastle this season.

Man of the match was awarded to Sean O'Neil, had a hand in both tries.

Scorers, Tries - Sean O'Neil (x1), Tom Nixon (x1)
Conversions - Gaz Barlett (x1)

Another local derby at Stoke next week, 3:00 pm

Saturday 29 March 2008
Longton 1st XV 14 (Home) v South Leicester 1st XV 5
Longton Phoenix 25 (Away) v Newport 2nd XV 18
Longton Stags 24 (Home) v Trentham 2nd XV 18
Sunday 30 March 2008
Longton Ladies ?? (Home) v Oakham Ladies ??
Longton U 13's (No Match)
Longton U 16's (No Match)

LONGTON 14PTS. SOUTH LEICESTER 5PTS.

Longton overcame wet and windy conditions at Trentham Fields to narrowly defeat a strong South Leicester side by 14-5pts.
The home team chose to play with the gale force wind at their backs in the first half but early on the visitors showed their adeptness at retaining the ball and kept play tight amongst their powerful forwards. It was, however, only a matter of time before Longton were able to use their wind advantage and take play deep into South Leicester territory. After 9 minutes Mike Swetman attempted a 30m. penalty attempt at goal from near the touchline but his well struck kick drifted just wide. Longton kept up the pressure and from a catch and drive at the line out the home forwards drove over with Jez Moss getting the touchdown. Ollie Pointon converted with a magnificent kick just in from the touchline to put Longton 7-0pts. up.
With the elements in their favour Longton needed more than one score to take into the second half but South Leicester were dominating possession and kept the ball tight very efficiently. They even looked dangerous on the odd occasion that they moved the ball out into their backs and, at this stage, they were clearly looking the most likely winners of this tight contest.
After 25mins. Longton manged to score their second try when, following a series of drives from their pack, the ball was released out to the backs where fly half, Tony Wheat, switched the direction of attack before feeding Mike Swetman on the blindside. The powerful centre burst between two defenders before slipping a deft pass to full back, Tom Hughes, who dived over for the try a few metres in from the corner flag. Ollie Pointon again converted with a superb kick in the swirling conditions to give Longton a 14-0pts. lead.
This was the time that the hosts needed to apply more pressure to add to their lead before half time but South Leicester showed their fighting qualities by taking the game to Longton and they made their way upfield with a series of powerful drives and runs before finding a gap in the defence to score their first try of the afternoon to bring the score to 14-5pts. as half time arrived.

On the evidence of the first half a 9 point lead was not going to be enough to secure victory and the early signs in the second half were not good as the visitors pounded away at the Longton line in a whole series of forward drives. It seemed only a matter of time before a score came but, to their credit, the home team defended resolutely and kept their line intact. South Leicester had a chance to reduce the arrears with a 30m. penalty but the kick drifted to the left of the uprights.
As the half wore on Longton began to put together some attacking moves of their own as they took play to within a few metres
of the South Leicester line; a repeat of the first half driving maul try looked to be on the cards as the pack inched forwards towards the try line but the referee penalised them and the chance was lost. However, there were several more drives from the pack with, on some occasions, backs Chris Tenucci, Ollie Pointon and Rick Christopherson joining the back of the maul but the visitors held out.
Then, when they won possession, South Leicester produced a long kick to touch which landed less than 10m. from the Longton line. Again the home defence stood firm with tackles coming in from Kieran Healey, Ben Grocott, Rich Kelly, George Glenn and the rest of the forwards. Longton suffered a blow when scrum half, Ben Robson, who was having a fine game injured his troublesome shoulder and was replaced by Dan Needham. Veteran, A.J.Birse, was also forced to leave the field with cramp to be substituted by Ollie Greatholder.
As the clock was running down South Leicester were becoming increasingly frustrated at their inability to break down the Longton resistance and began to give away more penalties as they sought possession. Longton, on the other hand were becoming more disciplined and showed patience when defending. One one such occasion the ball went loose in a South Leicester attack for Kieran Healey to scoop up and launch a counter attack. He fed the supporting George Glenn who made good yardage before feeding winger, Rick Christopherson, and he set off for the line, sprinting towards the corner only to be hauled down by a fine tackle from the South Leicester winger who sped across from the opposite wing. With Longton still more than one score ahead time ran out and a welcome victory was assured with a second half display that showed real character and grit.
The sponsors man of the match was young second row, Rich Thompson, who worked tirelessly throughout, but on the day the whole team deserved the honour and Longton kept alive their play off hopes.

OTHER RESULTS
NEWPORT 2ND.XV 18PTS. LONGTON PHOENIX 25PTS.

LONGTON STAGS 24PTS. TRENTHAM 2ND.XV 18PTS.

The Stags turned up for the last Merit game of the season, surprised to see the whole Trentham squad warming up 90 mins before kick off, with their first VX not playing it looked as if would be a difficult afternoon ahead. Loosing the toss Longton kicked off into the driving wind and rain but soon started to gain the upper hand, Longton were easily the best in the scrums, with the lineouts a bit of a lottery due to the high wind, it was the loose play that the Stags dominated. During the first half, Trentham only managed to get into the Longton half 4 times, scoring each time, the first try was an interception with a forward throwing the ball to a centre, the Trentham back cantered under the posts unopposed, the second try was from a Longton infringement at a maul, Trentham took a quick penalty, the massed Longton pack heard a whistle, so they all stopped, unfortunately the Trentham player carried on, with the referee denying hearing a whistle himself, another unopposed try, with one conversion and 2 pens Trentham went in to half time 18-0 up.

Turning round Longton had every confidence playing with the wind in the second half with Gaz Barlett pounding the ball at every opportunity deep into the Trentham half. The forwards continually drove the opposition back at every opportunity, the first try came from a penalty 10m out, Tom Nixon passed it to Ben Shutt and the 18yo flanker powered over, with Gaz converting 18-7. Jon Mathias scored the next 12-18, Jon also managed a try saving tackle late in the game that could have won it for Trentham. But the try of the game was Ben Walker, taking the ball from a maul he drove between the 2 centres, handing one off, before side stepping the advancing full back to score near the posts, Gaz converted 19-18. The final try was a comedy of errors when the Trentham scrumhalf tried to kick the ball on his own line, with the prop John Hammersley charging down, he succeeded in kicking the ball straight into John's stomach, who then just had to fall over the line 24-18. A well deserved victory with a tremendous second half fight back.

Man of the match was awarded for the 4th time this season to Ben Walker

Scorers, Tries - Ben Shutt (x1), Jon Mathias (x1), Ben Walker (x1), John Hammersley (x1)
Conversion - Gaz Barlett (x2)

Next week the Stags have a pool game vs Newcastle 3rd's (away) 3pm kickoff

Saturday 15 March 2008
Longton 1st XV (No Match)
Longton Phoenix (No Match)
Longton Stags 5 (Away) v Essington 1st XV 17
Sunday 16 March 2008
Longton Ladies 15 (Home) Lutterworth Ladies 5
Longton U 13's 15 (Home) v Leek U 13's 0
Longton U 16's (No Match)

Longton Stags 5 Pts vs Essington 1st XV 17 (Away)
With 3 teams declining to play the stags during the week, the Stags finally agreed to play Owen Cup finalists Essington 1st XV. Due to the Stags being the only team in action, the squad was bolstered with a few guests, notably 1st teamers Paul Green at fly half and Matt Chunk Davies in the front row. For the first 20 mins the game vary rarely moved from the middle on the park, Chris Ainsworth left the field early on with a deep gash to the forehead, to be replaced by Norm Rushton at No.8, towards the end of the half the Longton forwards took a lineout near the Essington line, a driving maul took the ball near to the line, where captain Gaz Edwards crashed over the final yard for the first try. 5-0. A few minutes later the ball travelled down the line to Paul Housley on the wing, he sprinted 50m and passed to welshman Jon Mathieus who was just held up short. Then a mistake behind the Longton scrum enabled Essington to poach the ball and take it over the line under the posts, half time 5-7

A few changes at half time saw all club tight heads in the front row for the first time, John Brookes at loose, Chunk at hooker and Neil Pickering at tight, 60 stone plus! but the second half didn't go Longton's way, scrums and lineouts were evenly matched but Essington shaved it in open play, from a penalty near the line the Essington loose head slotted the ball over the bar over to take the score to 5-10. Then the killer blow, with Longton defending close to the line an Essington forward dropped on the ball on the line, even though most observers thought he was just short the referee gave the try, when converted 5-17. It was now all out attack running every thing, things were not helped when flanker Tom Nixon was sinbinned with 10 mins to go for a late tackle, but to no avail with Essington running out the worthy winners.

Man of the match was awarded to Chris Dray, never stopped running and was part of most good passages of play.

Scorers, Tries - Gaz Edwards (x1)

WOMENS RUGBY - MIDLANDS 2

LONGTON LADIES 15PTS. LUTTERWORTH LADIES 5PTS.

After being promoted two leagues at the beginning of this season and finding life tough at this level, Longton Ladies registered a fine win in beating Lutterworth Ladies by 15-5 points at Trentham Fields in a game which counted for four points as Lutterworth were unable to fulfill their home fixture before the end of the season.
For the winners, Stephanie Mack scored two tries with one try for Mags Reese.

JUNIOR RUGBY

LONGTON U13'S 15PTS. LEEK U13'S NIL.

Longton's inexperienced Under 13 squad gave a fine performance in beating Leek Under 13's by 15-0pts. on Sunday morning at Trentham Fields showing how much their ability and confidence is improving each week.

RESULTS Saturday 8 March 2008
Longton 1st XV 10 (Home) v Broadstreet 1st XV 14
Longton Phoenix 69 (Home) v Stoke 2nd XV 0
Longton Stags 0 (Away) Willenhall 18
Sunday 9 March 2008
Longton Ladies ?? (Away) v LEC Stoneygate Ladies ??
Longton U 13's (No Match)
Longton U 16's (No Match)

LONGTON 10PTS. BROAD STREET 14PTS.

Longton suffered their fourth home defeat of the season in going down by 14-10pts. to third placed Broad Street. The game ended in contraversial circumstances when the referee awarded five penalties in succession within 5m. of the visitor's line, each time for collapsing a driving maul without awarding either a yellow card or, more obviously, a penalty try which would have given Longton a 17-14pts. win.
Broad Street played with the strong wind at their backs in the first half and soon capitalised on the advantage gained by scoring a penalty after only 4 minutes and then 2 minutes later an unconverted try after some sloppy defending by the hosts to take an 8-0pts. lead. However, Longton fought back immediately when Mike Swetman charged through three would-be tacklers to crash over in the corner to make the score 5-8pts. For the next 25 minutes Longton held the lively visitors out and even came close to a second score when the forwards were just thwarted near the corner flag. Then, on 35 minutes, came the try of the match when scrum half, Ben Robson, went down the blindside before passing to Gary McDermott whose well weighted pass found Chris Tenucci flying up on the outside. His incredible burst of acceleration took him passed the first line of defence before a fine pass back inside found McDermott in support and he sprinted in for the try to put Longton in front by 10-8pts. This stirred Broad Street into life and they forced Longton into giving away penalties, the second of which after 41 minutes was successfully slotted over to send the visitors into the half time break 11-10pts. up. Longton could feel well satisifed with their first half efforts and could look forward to playing with the strong wind in the second half.

Clearly, Broad Street were made of sturdy stuff and went straight onto the attack, gaining a penalty in front of the posts after only 4mins. of the half, successfully kicked to put them 14-10pts. up. It only seemed a matter of time before Longton used the wind and took play deep into the away half but they struggled for possession as the Broad Street pack picked and drove with great control but scorned possible kickable penalties in order to retain possession. When Longton did win possession the powerful boot of Mike Swetman drove them deep into the visitor's half but despite several attempts to reach the line they failed to score. The hosts suffered a major blow when scrum half, Ben Robson, who was having a fine game, had to leave the field with a shoulder injury, to be replaced by Tony Wheat.
With 20 minutes gone Longton went for 3 points with a penalty but the strong crosswind for the kick saw the ball drift wide of the uprights from Mike Swetman's well struck attempt. Try as they may Longton could not secure enough clean possession to mount some telling attacks and Broad Street maintained the upper hand territorially until the last 5 minutes when Longton put in one last effort. Each time on five occasions Longton looked like driving the ball over from a maul only for the Broad Street forwards to illegally collapse the drive. The referee confessed afterwards that he should have awarded a penalty try and sin binned the visitor's number 5 for persistant collapsing of the drive. The whistle blew with Longton still camped near their opponents' line but going down by 14-10pts.
Longton now find themselves in fourth position and a play off place is looking increasingly unlikely with just three games to go. However, three wins might just be enough with South Leicester and Peterbrough at home and champions, Loughborough Students, who appear to be fielding weaker sides now as they reach the latter stages of the BUSA tournament which is clearly their number one target for the remainder of the season.
Longton now have two weeks off before facing South Leicester whose season also seems to have come off the rails in the last few matches.

LONGTON PHOENIX 69PTS. STOKE 2ND.XV NIL.

Longton Stags 0 Pts vs Willenhall 2nd XV 18 (Away)

With no regular fixture the Stags entered the pool and agreed to play away at Willenhall, after defeating their 4'ths and 3'rds, it was decided tougher opposition would a more challenging game, unfortunately Willenhall 2'nds ran out the winners 18-0, but Ben Walker and Julian Morris put in strong performances with Ben just shading man of the match.

Saturday 1 March 2008
Longton 1st XV 21 (Away) v Kenilworth 1st XV 38
Longton Phoenix (No Match)
Longton Stags ?? (Away) v Asbourne 3rd XV ??
Sunday 2 March 2008 - Mothers Day
Longton Ladies (No Match)
Longton U 13's (No Match)
Longton U 16's (No Match)

KENILWORTH 38PTS. LONGTON 21PTS.

Longton went down by 38-21pts. at Kenilworth, paying the penalty for some woeful tackling and scorning a number of clear cut scoring opportunities.
Playing into a strong wind blowing into the corner the visitors were soon put under pressure by a home team playing with the intensity of a team at the top end of the table rather than at the lower end. After an early penalty chance was missed by Kenilworth Longton attacked strongly through their forwards who looked to be driving hard towards the line when Kenilworth stole the ball illegally, one of numerous offences missed by the official on a day he will want to forget. The ball was quickly run out of defence for left wing, Brown, to sprint in for the try. The conversion was missed but a 5-0pts. lead lifted the hosts.
Longton were continually put under pressure by the slick Kenilworth backs, their cause being helped by many weak tackles. The visitors were clearly missing the tackling ability of injured flankers, Ben Grocott and Kieran Healey as scrum half, Renowden, enjoyed some freedom around the fringes.
The turning point in the game came after 34 minutes when Gary McDermott was very harshly yellow carded for attempting to wrest the ball legally from a tackled player in a one-on-one tussle. Instead of penalising the player on the floor for not releasing the ball he punished the Longton man, a classic example of the lack of verbal communication from an official who only used his whistle to control the game. Whilst the Longton No.10 was off the field Kenilworth scored two tries, the first a catch and drive by the forwards and the second by stand off, C.Brown, after another glaring missed tackle. This made the score 19-0pts. and left Longton with a mountain to climb. Even so, a little more composure could well have seen Longton score at least two tries when first scrum half, Ben Robson, made a scything break but the final scoring pass just went astray and then full back, Tony Wheat, carved through the middle of the defence only for the lack of support to deny a score.
Longton went further behind ten minutes into first half stoppage time when another missed tackle in midfield allowed scrum half, Renowden, to sprint through for a converted try to make the half time score 26-0pts.

Playing with the wind Longton now looked to claw some points back but the half got off to the worst possible start when Kenilworth were allowed to run a long clearance kick back and a simple movement of the ball down the back line found no Longton cover across field for a simple try to be scored, making the score 31-0pts. At long last Longton put their first score on the board when the ball was fed out to winger, Chris Tenucci. The flying winger rounded his man with ease, chipped over the next two defenders and collected the ball before beating the full back to score under the posts. Mike Swetman converted to make it 31-7pts. After 24mins. another piece of poor defending allowed Kenilworth full back, Clendinning-Fenton, to dart through a gaping hole for a converted try to put the home team 38-7pts. up. Longton then lost centre Ollie Pointon and hooker, George Glenn, with calf injuries and skipper, Joel Booth, with a thumb injury within a short space of time.
Longton man of the match, Ben Robson, then made a blistering break out of defence and with Chris Tenucci unmarked outside another score looked certain but the scrum half stepped inside and the full back was able to put in a telling tackle. Then, Mike Swetman went charging for the line only to be tackled inches short with the follow up drive held up over the line. However, from the 5m. scrum Gary McDermott ghosted in under the posts for a try, converted by Swetman to bring the score to 38-14pts.
Next, Tom Hughes made a superb break out of defence, running virtually the full length of the field before passing to the supporting Gary McDermott who could have sprinted in under the posts but, instead, chose to give a return pass to Tom Hughes which then went to ground. Chris Tenucci was forced off with a calf injury reducing Longton to 14 men as all replacements had been used.
In the final 10 minutes Longton continued to have the better of the exchanges but by now it was too little too late. Nevertheless, the final try went to the visitors as a lovely reverse pass from Gary McDermot saw Mike Swetman charge in under the posts and his conversion made the final score 38-21pts.
Despite this further setback Longton remain in second place as both Luctonians and South Leicester lost, although Broad Street's win at bottom side, Dudley Kingswinford, brings them onto the same number of points as Longton. Next Saturday, Longton entertain Broad Street at Trentham Fields.

Saturday 23 February 2008
Longton 1st XV 23 (Home) v Burton 1st XV 15 (Staffs Cup Semi-Final)
Longton Phoenix (Cancelled) v Leek 2nd XV
Longton Stags 71 (Home) v Leek 3rd XV 5
Sunday 24 February 2008
Longton Ladies (No Match)
Longton U 13's ?? (Home) v Congleton ??
Longton U 16's ?? (Away) v Congleton U16's ??

STAFFORDSHIRE CUP - SEMI FINAL - LONGTON 23PTS. BURTON 15PTS.

Holders Longton went through to meet Stoke in the final of the Staffordshire Cup when they beat Burton 23-15pts. at Trentham Fields. This was another far from convincing performance by Longton who, once again, won "ugly".
Playing into the wind the hosts conceded a try in the corner in the first few minutes when the referee failed to spot a knock on by Burton at the line out and their hooker scampered through for a score in the corner. The conversion attempt failed but the visitors had struck the first blow.
Longton went straight into the attack and forced Burton to give away a penalty almost in front of their own posts. Ollie Pointon slotted over the kick to make the score 3-5pts. The home team were trying to run the ball through their quick backs but the visitor's defence held firm, managing to halt some powerful runs from Mike Swetman and deft touches from Ben Robson. Then the ball squirted out from the side of a Burton scrum and the alert Ollie Pointon hacked on before collecting the ball and sprinting over for a try in the corner to put Longton 8-5pts. up.
In the 25th. minute Chris Tenucci came off the left wing to pop up on the right where he chased a chip ahead, collected the ball and glided around two defenders to race in near the posts for a fine opportunist try, neatly converted by Ollie Pointon to give Longton a 15-5pts cushion. However, Burton came straight back and landed a penalty in front of the posts to reduce the defecit to 15-8pts.
Just before half time Ollie Pointon narrowly missed a kick at goal into the wind and the half ended with both sides having a man in the sin bin.

Longton, not for the first time this season, began the second half as if the game was already won. Their tackling was poor and their handling careless. As a result, Burton grabbed the initiative with both hands and surged forward with some strong power play from their pack. It was no surprise when they finally drove over for a try and with the successful conversion drew level at 15-15pts. all. At this stage in the game Burton looked the most likely winners as Longton continued to make error after error. The visitors missed a kickable penalty after 20mins. which would have given them the lead.

Entering the last 10 minutes Longton finally realised they had a fight on their hands to be in with a chance or retaining the cup and raised the tempo. Burton were put under pressure in front of their own posts and a deliberate hand in the loose resulted in a yellow card and a simple penalty for Ollie Pointon. With the clock running down fly half, Gary McDermott, broke through from halfway and sprinted towards the line, however, the chasing defence closed in on him. Just as he was about to be tackled he cleverly chipped ahead over the line where substitute, Rick Christopherson, won the race for the touchdown to score the try that setled the match. Ollie Pointon's successful conversion made the final score a flattering 23-15pts. to Longton to make it an all Potteries final against Stoke.


STAFFORDSHIRE MERIT TABLE 2 - LONGTON STAGS 71PTS. LEEK 3RD.XV 5PTS.

The Stags were expecting a much harder game than turned out, Leek turned up with a much stronger side than the earlier fixture this season, but were blown away by a rampant Stags XV. From the first scrum Longton drove the Leek front row over the second row and all 8 Leek forwards ended up on the ground. Due to the strong wind all lineout ball was thrown to the front, were Chris Dray took every one cleanly and set up many driving mauls. For the second try, Longton lost the ball against the head in the scrum but Matt harassed Leek to spill the ball, Jacko took it on and drove over the line for the first of his 3 tries, though he did have to get 2 jugs, one for 3 tries and one for jug avoidance when with the line beckoning he passed to Ben Walker to take it over.

It was from Chris Dray pressurising a Leek lineout, prop Shane Dix took the ball on to bulldoze over early in the second half, the starting back row of Jacko, Ben & Mumf controlled the game tackling like demons and strong running with the ball at every opportunity resulting in 5 tries between them. Winger Chris Harrisons notched up his 19th try of the season with blistering speed, duly matched by Chris Pike in the second half, taking the ball 30m out, cutting in and sweeping past 2 desperate Leek tackles to score under the posts.

With 6 substitutes during the second half there was no let up, fullback Paul Housley imposed himself as soon as he came on, running through countless tackles. Flanker Dave Wilson, returning to the 3rd team after 7 years away, rounded of a convincing win with a try under the posts. 140 points in two Merit games with only 5 points conceded will do the league position no harm. The Stags travel to Ashboune for their penultimate Merit game, needing to win both games to have a chance of winning the league with the biggest points difference.

Man of the match was awarded to scrumhalf Matt Lovett, tackled everything that moved.

Scorers, Tries - Andy Jackson (x3), Chris Harrison (x2), Ben Walker (x2), Julian Morris (x1), Chris Pike (x1), Simon Clarke (x1), Shane Dix (x1), Matt Lovett (x1), Dave Wilson (x1)
Conversion - Gaz Barlett (x3)

Saturday 16 February 2008
Longton 1st XV 15 (Home) v Newport 1st XV 18
Longton Phoenix (No Match)
Longton Stags 72 (Away) v GEC St Leonards 2nd XV 0
Longton Vets 22 (Home) v Newcastle 3rd XV 5
Sunday 17 February 2008
Longton Ladies ?? (Home) v Loughborough Ladies ??
Longton U 13's ?? (Away) v Stafford U13's ??
Longton U 16's (No Match)

LONGTON 15PTS. NEWPORT 18PTS.

Longton surrendered a 15 point lead after only 13 minutes play at Trentham Fields to go down by 15 - 18pts. to an increasingly confident Newport side fighting to get clear of the relegation zone.
The home team began in storming fashion and poured all over the visitors in wave after wave of attacks and it was no surprise when they took the lead after only six minutes with a well struck penalty from Ollie Pointon. Two minutes later turnover ball some 40m. from the Newport line sent the ball flashing out to the left where full back, Gary McDermott, took it at pace and scorched in to the corner for a fine try to make it 8-0pts. Then, on 13mins. Longton again blitzed the visitor's line and from a line out 7m. out Rich Kelly won the ball and the forwards drove over the try line where Jez Moss touched down. Ollie Pointon put icing on the cake with a magnificent conversion from the touchline to give Longton a 15-0pts. lead.
Newport reduced the lead when Longton conceded the first of many silly penalties. The kick from 35m. out sailed over. Longton, however, continued to enjoy most of the territory but the Newport defence held out with a combination of good tackling and poor options from Longton. Half time came without any further scores.

Newport began the second half with a new determination and enjoyed territorial advantage as Longton appeared to be happy to sit on their comfortable lead but this was reduced by a further 3 points after only 10 minutes of the half as Newport slotted over their second penalty to make the score 15-6pts. Then, on 14 minutes they scored a try following a kick ahead and with the successful conversion brought the scoreline to 15-13pts. By now Longton were in free fall and started to make mistake after mistake, their cause not being helped by a sin binning. Ollie Pointon had to leave the field with a leg injury and this led to a reshuffle in the Longton backs. In the 20th. minute Newport deservedly went in front with a try in the left hand corner and although the conversion attempt missed they now led by 18-15pts
Longton finally woke up to the fact that they faced a surprise home defeat and began to launch a series of attacks as the clock ran down. Chris Tenucci had two mazey runs which looked like bringing tries but the Fijian full back pulled off superb tackles on both occasions. A 30m. penalty attempt drifted wide of the upright in another attack. Then, the Longton pack surged forwards from a line out and first Jez Moss was brought down inches from the line and then Kieran Healey appeared to touch the ball down over the line but the referee was badly positioned and did not award the try.
Another forward drive for the line saw most of the Longton backs join in the drive to try to force the ball over the line but miraculously the defence held out. In the dying minutes more Longton attacks followed but it was just not their day as wayward passes and some wrong options contrived to ensure no further scores.
Newport deserved great credit for their spirited comeback when all looked lost early on and Longton paid the penalty for thinking the game was won after 15 minutes.
Despite the defeat Longton remain in second place as both Broad Street and South Leicester suffered similar surprise defeats to lower teams. Luctonians now look as though they are coming up on the rails with a late run as they move into third place.
Next week, Longton face Burton at home in the semi final of the Staffordshire Cup, the winners meeting Stoke in the final at Walsall in April.

Longton Stags 74 Pts vs GEC St. Leonard's 2nd XV 0

The Stags turned up with a strengthened team to combat the expected onslaught of the Saint's front row, but the scrummaging power of John Brookes was not needed as GEC only had 9 men, very poor showing for a Merit game, the Stags loaned them 4 players to allow 13 a side, with the proviso that all loaned players would start the second half in Longton colours. Fester blew the whistle to start the game which was one way traffic for the next 80 minutes.

With uncontested scrums from the start most of the forwards found it easier to get around the park, that enabled many bouts of 'champagne' rugby, with the ball passing between the forwards and backs with ease. All eight Stags who turned out for GEC put in 100% effort which doesn't always happen.

The best of the tries were Chris Harrison, the ball travelled along the backs to the wing, where Chris outpaced his opposition on the outside and cantered in from 30m. and winger Chris Pike, scoring his first try for the Stags, took the ball on the half way line and sprinted clear to score, he will surely push wingers Chris and Julian for the remainder of the season. The GEC 9 tried for the whole game but could not match the experienced Stags team, a special mention must go to Fester who had his best game with the whistle so far this season.

Man of the match was awarded jointly to Simon Clarke and Ben Walker, who started most of the best moves during the game.

Scorers, Tries - Gaz Edwards (x1), Andy Jackson (x1), Chris Harrison (x2), Simon Clarke (x2), Julian Morris (x1), Chris Pike (x1), Ben Walker (x1), Chris Dray (x1), Scott MacDonald (x1), TBC (x1)
Conversion - Gaz Barlett (x7)

LONGTON 3RD.XV 22PTS. NEWCASTLE 3RD.XV 5PTS.

Saturday 9 February 2008

Longton 1st XV 20 (Away) v Scunthorpe 1st XV 16
Longton Phoenix 53 (Home) v Wolverhampton 2nd XV 3
Longton Stags (Rugeley did not turn up) v Rugeley 2nd XV
Sunday 10 February 2008
Longton Ladies (No Match)
Longton U 13's (No Match)
Longton U 16's (No Match)

SCUNTHORPE 16PTS. LONGTON 20PTS.

Longton moved into second place in Midlands1 with a narrow win at second from bottom Scunthorpe by 20-16pts.
The game was notewothy for two reasons, one being the high error count on both sides and the second for the lengthy lectures given out by the referee to both captains and certain players. It was a clean but extremely scrappy affair full of basic handling errors and wayward passing.
The visitors were first to launch a series of attacks which put them into good field positions but there was a distinct lack of direction and precision in their play and opportunities were squandered. Longton spurned a chance to take the lead with a fairly straightforward penalty only 20m. from the home line and chose to go for the try by kicking into the corner. However, the resulting line out produced no score as Scunthorpe defended their line well.

After 16 minutes Scunthorpe went in front with a penalty from full back, Robinson for one of many silly penalties given away through over eagerness at the breakdown. However, Longton went straight back onto the attack and this time chose to kick for goal with a more difficult penalty but full back, Tony Wheat slotted over the kick to equalise the scores at 3-3pts.
Longton continued to look the more dangerous with ball in hand and eventually got their reward when Chris Tenucci came off his wing to burst through the centre before feeding winger, Ollie Pointon, to scamper over in the corner for a well worked try. Tony Wheat's successful kick from the touchline put Longton 10-3pts. up. The visitors continued to have the lion's share of territory and in defending their line robustly Scunthorpe lost two men to the sin bin. Longton soon took advantage of the extra men when the forwards drove powerfully for the line where Jez Moss emerged to plunge over for the try. Tony Wheat's well struck kick form wide out hit the upright and bounced out but Longton now held a comfortable 15-3pts. lead.
Back to 15 men Scunthorpe finally began to take the game to Longton and were rewarded with a penalty which Robinson slotted over with ease and with over 50 minutes played of the first half scored again from the trusty boot of Robinson to end the half at 9-15pts down.

The first quarter of the second half is usually Longton's "quiet period" and so it proved once more with the error count increasing. Mike Swetman had a number of powerful charges through the middle but the defence managed to smother the ball to prevent him from off loading to the supportiong runners. At this point, the visitors' line out began to mis-fire, scrum ball became untidy and Longton had difficulty winning and retaining the ball for long periods. Nevertheless, Scunthorpe fared no better than their opponents in trying to move the ball. Apart from the constant threat of Viamoso on the left wing the home backs offerred little threat and it was left to their pack to make forward momentum.
When they did finally manage to get into the game Longton began to use the pace of their wingers, Ollie Pointon and Chris Tenucci and it was the latter who chipped ahead before gathering his own kick and speeding into the corner for an opportunist try. The conversion from Mike Swetman just failed but with the score now 20-9pts. to the visitors and time running out a valuable win looked certain. However, Scunthorpe were not about to give in without a fight and with a Longton man in the sin bin prop, Andy Fish forced his way over for a try, converted by Robinson to close the gap to four points.
Longton though dug deep and saw out another 50 minute half out without too much difficulty to run out just deserving winners by 20-16pts.

With both South Leicester and Broad Street losing Longton move into second place on their own and with the surprise defeat of leaders Loughborough Students at Bedford Athletic close the gap by two points. Next week, Longton are at home to Newport whom they beat comfortably away from home earlier in the season.

LONGTON PHOENIX 53PTS. WOLVERHAMPTON 2ND.XV 3PTS.

Longton Phoenix maintained their position at the top of the Staffordshire Merit Table 1 with a convincing 53-3pts. win at Trentham Fields over Wolverhampton 2nd.XV despite fielding a weakened team. Winger Ally Whiston scored four tries.

LONGTON STAGS were not able to play their match game against Rugeley when their opponents failed to turn up, having confirmed the fixture in the week.

Saturday/Sunday 2/3 February 2008

Saturday 2 February 2008
Longton 1st XV (No Match)
Longton Phoenix 30 (Away) v Leek 1st XV 3
Longton Stags 17 (Home) v Ecceleshall 2nd XV 7
Sunday 3 February 2008
Longton Ladies (No Match)
Longton U 13's 5 (Away) Leek U 13's 40
Longton U 16's 5 (Away) Leek U 16's 55

LONGTON PHOENIX 30PTS. LEEK 3PTS.

Longton Phoenix, strengthened with three regular first teamers, overpowered a Leek team containing the majority of their normal first team, by 30-3pts in a game switched from frost bound Leek to Trentham Fields.
The Phoenix, currently top of Staffordshire Merit Table 1, established an early superiority in the forwards with John Brookes anchoring the tight head very securely and Ian Wright and Chris Ainsworth proving real powerhouses around the field in the back row.
Longton struck the first blow when following a period of territorial pressure, fly half Scott Curley landed a well struck penalty. Leek tried to move the ball wide with some fine runs from Rob McDermott in the centre but the home tackling was secure and a breakthrough never seemed likely. Ollie Pointon back from a 6 week injury lay off and Tom Hughes bottled up the centre and always looked threatening with ball in hand. On one such occasion Hughes skipped through the middle and as four defenders closed in on him he piroueted round and left all four in his wake as he dived over for a superb try. Scott Curley's conversion made the score 10-0pts. to the Phoenix. Most of the play took place in the Leek half and but for some sloppy passing by Longton more scores could have come. In fact, the next try came from the forwards who, by now, were pushing the visiting pack back consistently. When the ball was held up over the line as Rick Christopherson burst through, the ensuing 5 metre scrum was driven over for scrum half, Matt Lovatt to dive in for the touchdown. The conversion missed and half time came without any further additions to the scoreline at 15-0pts. to the hosts.

Playing with the wind slightly in their favour in the second half Leek enjoyed more territory with former Longton player of the year, Luke Grainger prominent, but could not breakdown the Longton defence, Wright and Ainsworth again proving powerful tacklers. However, they did manage to put a score on the board with a Rob McDermott penalty. Longton extended their lead after another mazey run by centre, Tom Hughes who skipped over wide out for a try, at which point he was substituted. The next score came from a smart blindside move by Rick Christopherson, who had moved to scrum half, and his alertness saw him score near the corner flag. The difficult conversion was missed but with a lead of 22 points the Longton pack kept the ball for lengthy periods, probing the narrow side time and again. In one such move John Brookes was just brought down feet from the line. Finally, the inevitable try came when wing Gareth Townsend superbly sidestepped his way passed one defender after another with little room to move along the touchline to scorch over near the corner. The conversion was unsuccessful but the final whistle blew with Longton Phoenix deserved winners of a sporting contest by 30-3pts.

Longton Stags 17 Pts vs Eccleshall 2nd XV 7

Yet another cry off, with Newport declining to play the Stags, Fester managed to get another game against Eccy 2's, with their 1st XV game being frozen off, turned up with a sprinkling of experienced players, mainly in the forwards. The result being a very tough game for a depleted Stags side, with forwards Jacko, Tolly, Mumf and Neil Pickering watching from the touch line, it showed the depth that Fester has assembled in the squad this year that they managed to win the game.

Eccy started the better, No. 8 and loose head prop Frank Greenwood to the fore, putting the scrum and lineout under pressure for the whole game. But with four forwards in the back division, the Stags had to use this to their advantage, and the first score came from this, from the 20m line in the Eccy half, the ball travelled through a few hands until it arrived with flanker Paul Housley, breaking a couple of tackles and crashing over for the first try, The first half ended 5-0 but already the Stags had lost FR, and soon after half time Gaz Edwards, which resulted in Chris Carter (who turned up after watching Stoke FC play down the road) and Julian Morris joining Paul on the back row, 3 normal wingers! After half time, scrum half Matt Lovat joined the game, after being substituted in the 2nd team game vs Leek, he helped the cause soon after by harassing the Eccy fly half in his own dead ball area to knock on and allow Gaz Barlett to fall on the ball, Gaz then proceeded to drop kick the conversion, 12-0. After loosing the ball against the head in a scrum, the Eccy centre scored near the posts, after the conversion 12-7. The final try was a trade mark Stags try this season, cross field kick from Gaz, sprint by flying winger Chris Harrison, who kicked on and dropped on the ball in the in-goal area 17-7.

Overall the Stags managed to resist the dominant Eccy forwards in the loose, the rejigged back row harassed everything and put the Eccy backs under a lot of pressure, aided by centres Griff and Norm, hopefully a few on the walking wounded will be available next week for the visit of Rugeley 2's.

Man of the match was awarded jointly to Paul Housley and Julian Morris for having storming games out of position in the back row.

Scorers, Tries - Paul Housley (x1), Gaz Barlett (x1), Chris Harrison (x1)
Conversion - Gaz Barlett (x1)

Saturday/Sunday 26/27 January 2008

Saturday 26 January 2008

Longton 1st XV ?? (Home KO) v Dunstablians 1st XV ??
Longton Phoenix 39 (Home) v Lichfield 2nd XV 0
Longton Stags 19 (Away) v Linley & Kidsgrove 2nd XV 17

Sunday 27 January 2008
Longton Ladies (No Match)
Longton U 13's (No Match)
Longton U 16's (No Match)

LONGTON 24PTS. DUNSTABLIANS 15PTS.

Longton got back to winning ways with an impressive 24-15pts. win over a competitive Dunstablians at Trentham Fields.
It was clear from the kick off that this was going to be a tough game to win as the visitors, unbeaten in their last four matches, started strongly with their profilic New Zealand fly half prompting some promising attacks. However, Longton were fired up for the challenge and their defence was rock solid.
For most of the half honours were even with both sides probing for an opening. The home team came closest to scoring when their pack drove hard for the line only to concede a reverse penalty and a yellow card for stamping as the visitor's defence threw bodies in the way to halt the charge. Longton were then content to see out the next 10 minutes by ensuring they did not concede any points. As half time approached it looked as though the first half would be scoreless but in the 37th.minute Longton finally opened up the Dunstablians' defence. The forwards won good clean possession just inside the visitor's half and the ball was flashed through the hands of the backs out to Chris Tenucci on the left wing who then sped around his opposite number and raced over unchallenged. Tony Wheat's successful conversion from wide out put Longton 7-0pts. up. Then, right on half time Dunstablians pulled three points back with a penalty from 25m.out making it 7-3pts. at the break.

The second half began with the away team having the upper hand and they deservedly went in front from a well controlled driving maul. The conversion was missed but at 8-7pts. up Dunstablians were looking increasingly confident of pulling off a surprise away victory. However, Longton now stepped up a gear and the visitors were called upon to do some desperate defending as the home forwards drove strongly for the line. It was no surprise when Dunstablians' under-pressure defence gave away a penalty on their own "22" in front of the posts. Tony Wheat stepped up to coolly slot over the kick to put Longton back in the lead at 10-8pts. With 22mins. gone and replacements Craig Wilson and Kieron Healey on, Longton struck a decisive blow as a beautifully weighted and angled kick to the corner was chased by Tenucci. The flying winger beat the defender to the ball and then flicked up a perfect inside pass to the supporting Ben Robson who scampered to the line, just managing to dive over as he was tackled. Tony Wheat's fine conversion gave Longton a more comfortable looking 17-8pts. lead.
With time running out came the try of the match, and of the season so far. Tony Wheat threw a long pass to Mike Swetman well into his own half who, in turn, threw another wide pass into midfield towards Chris Tenucci. He picked up the bouncing ball and then set off on a mazey run where, with a combination of pace, side steps and an outrageous dummy, he sprinted in the clear. There was no chance of the three pursuing defenders catching the flying wingman now and he raced under the posts for his second try, converted by Tony Wheat to put Longton firmly in command at 24-8pts. in front. In the dying minutes Longton resumed attacking again but a penalty for not releasing in the tackle allowed Dunstablians to take play deep into home territory from where thay produced a fine try from their backs, the successful conversion making the final score 24-15pts.

This was a much improved display from Longton which they will be looking to carry forward into their remaining seven league games with a play off spot still very much a possibility and a Staffordshire Cup semi final at home to Burton in four weeks to look forward to.

STAFFORDSHIRE MERIT TABLE 1

LONGTON PHOENIX 39PTS. LICHFIELD 2ND.XV NIL.

Longton Phoenix strengthed their lead in the Staffordshire Merit Table 1 when they beat close rivals Lichfield 2nds. by a convincing margin of 39-0pts. at home. In all 7 tries were scored, the last the most impressive as the ball was transferred through numerous pairs of hands before wingman Gareth Townsend sped over. Young scrum half, Matt Lovatt, was a livewire throughout and looks increasingly mature week by week.

Longton Stags 19 Pts vs Linley & Kidsgrove 2nd XV 17

With Lichfield crying off late on Friday night Fester was lucky to get L&K 2's at short notice. The Stags travelled to L&K with high hopes after giving the opposition two thrashings this season but not everything goes to plan. Linley were at full strength for the first time this season and the game turned out to be a close fought match.

The Stags started off brightly taking the game to Linley but after 10 mins were disappointed to be 5-0 down after sloppy work allowed one of the Linley backs to nip through the defensive line to score the first try of the game. After some further loose play, centre Chris Harrison picked the ball off the ground, skated past 2 defenders to score the Stags first try, with Gaz's conversion 7-5, the score was further increased when No.8 Jacko went on a charging run, with centre Jon Mathieus trying desperately to keep up and get Jacko's attention to pass the ball, Jacko dived over for the second try, 12-5 to Longton. The pack were now holding their own in the line out put loosing too many scrums against the head, which was difficult to understand as they pushed L&K all around the park for most of the game, further work needed at training! The final try of the first half was a replica of two others this season, fly half Gaz put in a tremendous cross field kick for centre Chris to race on to and score his second try of the game. the half ended 19-5.

The Stags had high hopes of extending the score in the second half but were thwarted by a resolute Linley pack, after conceded a try out wide and one near the posts to put the score 19-17, they were lucky when another try was ruled as a knock on, with Linley camped in the Longton 20m area for the last 10 mins, there were cheers all around when the final whistle blew.

Both sides were well balanced with Longton just squeezing through, the forwards worked hard with flanker Ben Walker the stand out player for his second man of match this season.

Scorers, Tries - Chris Harrison (x2), Andy Jackson (x1)
Conversion - Gaz Barlett (x2)

Saturday/Sunday 19/20 January 2008

Saturday 19 January 2008

Longton 1st XV 0 (Away) v Bedford Athletic 1st XV 11
Longton Phoenix ?? (Home) v Burton 2nd XV ??
Longton Stags 5 (Away) v Burton 3rd XV 10
Sunday 20 January 2008
Longton Ladies ?? (Away) v Shelford Ladies ??
Longton U 13's 0 (Home) v Newcastle U 13's 54
Longton U 16's ?? (Away) v Burntwood L U 16's ??

Longton 1st XV 0 (Away) v Bedford Athletic 1st XV 11

Longton travelled to Bedford looking to halt a run of three successive league defeats and where hampered from the outset when captain Joel Booth missed the bus to be with his family for the birth of his second daughter.

However despite this setback spirits where high and the team arrived at Bedford Athletic to find a pitch which resembled the one at Roughcote Lane sloping and very wet following the recent bout of inclement weather which continued throughout the game.

Bedford kicked off playing with the slope, and started to use their bigger forwards from the outset putting together a series of dynamic mauls, however to their credit Longtons reshuffled pack held them out. With 10 minutes played a Longton indescretion resulted in a well taken penalty converted by the Bedford stand off (3 - 0). Longton attacked and enjoyed sustained periods of possession and territory but where undone when an over officious young referee yellow carded a Longton player when Bedford players where clearly entering the rucks and mauls from all angles using heavy handed tactics to bully Longtons younger forwards. Down to 7 men though the pack retaliated in the best possible way by upping their effort and not reacting to the oppositions tactics.

After continued Longton pressure in the later stages of the first half Bedford gave away a series of penalties in their 22 and were lucky to retain their full compliment of players, however, Tony Wheat's penalty effort was wide of the posts. Half time score (3 - 0)

Buoyed by their first half efforts Longton looked for a big start to the second stanza particularly as they were now playing with the slope. Again, though the referee aided Bedford by bizarely sin binning another Longton player for an offence only he saw. Although the Longton pack repelled several Bedford attempts from the resulting 5m lineout they eventually conceded an unconverted try on 47 mins (8 - 0).

Again showing effort, determination and spirit Longton tried to pressurise the opposition and but for a misplaced pass or two should have had some reward for their endeavours. The final score of the game was to go to the Bedford stand off who converted a 30m penalty with 10 minutes remaining on the watch (11 - 0)

Longton continued to pressurise the home team until the final minute, the young side gave a performance which was poles apart from the previous league match against Dudley Kingswinford, it was full of spirit and endeavour and was warmly received by the travelling supporters.

Noteworthy performances, Gary McDermott and Mike Swetman amongst the backs and the entire pack of forwards did itself credit even forwards coach Gary Turners who turned back the clock with a cameo performance. Longton take on Dunstablians at home on Saturday 26th and a performance like todays should hopefully see them turnaround their current run of league form.

Longton Stags 5 Pts vs Burton 3rd XV 10

With the Burton pitch under water, the game was switched to at a school pitch in Barton-under-Needwood, after a convincing victory over Burton early on this season the Stags were expecting an easy runout but from the off both sides looked evenly matched. Burton struck first, a high tackle from Jacko resulted in Burton sloting over the penalty for the first points of the game to go 3-0 up. for the next 20 mins there were no scoring chances until from a maul 25m out a Burton player broke free and ran upopose to score under the post, after the convertion it was 0-10.

At half time Andy Rob came on at full back, Jacko reverted from centre to No 8 and Paul Housley moved to outside centre, this gave more bite to the pack and payed off when from a scrum 15m out Jacko took the ball drove through a number of tackles to score, 5-10. With scrums and lineouts going with play no further chances materialised. Burton were very happy when the final whistle blew to have a deserved victory.

Man of the match was scrum half Tom Nixon, a flanker playing out of position tackled everything in sight

Scorers, Tries - Andy Jackson (x1)

Saturday/Sunday 12/13 January 2008

Saturday 12 January 2008
Longton 1st XV (No Match )
Longton Phoenix 32 (Home) v Kidsgrove 1st XV 5
Longton Stags 24 (Away) v Bloxwich 2nd XV 12
Sunday 13 January 2008
Longton Ladies ?? (Home) v Old Leam's Ladies ??
Longton U 13's 0 (Away) v Lichfield U 13's 68
Longton U 16's ?? (Home) v Newcastle U 16's ??

LONGTON PHOENIX 32PTS. LINLEY 1ST.XV 5PTS.

Longton Phoenix had too much pace and power for Linley I at Trentham Fields and ran out comfortable winners by 32-6pts.
The first try came from a kick ahead which was hacked on by winger, Simon Clarke, before full back, Rick Christopherson, quickly followed up to drop on the ball as it crossed the line. Then, scrum half Matt Lovatt pounced on a loose ball at the base of a Linley scrum and hared off for the line, diving over before any cover defence could get to him.Scott Curley landed a fine conversion to make the score 12-0pts to the home side.
The next score came from a flowing back movement as the ball was quickly transferred through the hands of Scott Curley, Rob Wheat, Christian Wainwright and Rick Christopherson before being fed to winger, Ally Whiston, and he scampered into the corner for a superb score.

Linley started the second half the stronger and for the first quarter of an hour their bulky pack drove forward in determined manner. When the ball was released down the blindside the right wing was put in for a well worked try to take the score to 17-5pts to Longton Phoenix. This stirred the home team back into action and this time it was the turn of the forwards to put their names onto the scoreboard. First, the pack drove hard for the line and it was flanker, Lee Holford, who came up with the ball as it crossed the line. The same player scored again in the opposite corner, this time backing up another fast flowing backs move to make the score 27-5pts. The final try came from a counter attacking move as Longton moved the ball through several pairs of hands before second row forward, Ian Wright, burst onto the ball some 15m. from the line. Just as he was shaping up to pass inside, he threw an outrageous dummy which gave him the room to plunge over for an excellent try. The whistle went with Longton Phoenix the deserved winners of an entertaining and sporting game by 32-5pts.

Longton Stags 24 Pts vs Bloxwich 2nd XV 12
The Stags took on the Vets fixture at a cold, muddy, windswept Bloxwich and were disappointed when 2 players broke down injured during the warm-up, luckily Matt Davies and Craig Brown stepped up from the bench to fill in at prop and centre. The Stags kicked off and dominated most of the early play, after 15 mins 2nd row Gaz Edwards drove forward with the ball, then spun out of the maul to crash over the line for the first try, 5-0. Bloxwich quickly tied the game when a kick over the top caused confusion between Paul Housley and Julian Morris to allow the opposite winger to squeeze through and touch down 5-5, Just before half time the Stags uncharacteristically lost the ball against the head in a scrum, but good pressure from centre Jon Mathieus forced the opposition to spill the ball, Jon collected it to pass to winger Chris Harrison, who sprinted the 30m to score out wide, half time 10-5.

No changes at half time, Longton again dominated the early exchanges, and were rewarded when another cross field kick from flyhalf Gaz Bartlett was scooped up by Chris Harrison to round the opposite winger and score under the posts, pointing to the heavens as he touched down, converted by Gaz Bartlett 17-5. Jim Goddard replaced Gaz Edwards in the pack which now had to endure uncontested scrums due to Bloxwich running out of front row reserves, Jim uncharacteristically got involved in a melee with one of the opposition, the whole Stags pack ran over to offer assistance leaving a big hole for Bloxwich to score under the posts 17-12, serving policeman Jim Goddard was subsequently fined in the court sessions afterwards for not upholding the letter of the law! The final score late on saw centre Jon Mathieus take the ball on from a maul and bulldoze through frailing Bloxwich tackles to score under the posts, converted by Gaz to make the final score 24-12.

A deserving victory that would have seen higher scores if played at the plush Trentham Lakes, though after years at the Moorville cow patch they should have been used to these playing conditions.

Man of the match was prop Tim Arbour, ever improving in his first season of senior rugby

Next week the Stags play Burton 3rds in a Merit game, training starts again this Wednesday.

Scorers, Tries - Chris Harrison (x2), Gaz Edwards & Jon Mathieus
Conversion - Gaz Barlett (x2)

Wednesday 9 January 2008

WALSALL 0PTS. LONGTON 30PTS.

Longton were comfortable winners of their Staffordshire Cup Quarter Final at Walsall by 30-nil points.
Playing into a stiff wind in the first half the visitors were content to play a holding game for most of the first 30 minutes, fly half, Tony Wheat, peppering the Clubhouse touchline with some well directed kicks. Walsall though were playing with plenty of fire, especially up front where their forwards drove well in a series of dynamic rucks. However, when they released the ball out to their backs they lacked penetration and the Longton backs tackled their opposite numbers well.
The home team did have chances to break the deadlock but fly half, Matt Wood, failed with three kickable opportunities which may have lifted his side. The signs were ominous for Walsall as the half wore on as the Longton backs began to chance their arm. Gary McDermott, who was having a fine game at full back, counter attacked from deep and the move was carried on by Tony Wheat and then Tom Hughes but the defence just managed to close the final runner down. Just as it looked like being a scoreless first half, scrum half Dan Needham went down the blindside before feeding Gary McDermott who drew the winger and released a perfect pass to winger Rob Wheat who sprinted in from 20m. Tony Wheat's conversion into the wind just scraped the post on the wrong side and the half ended at 5-0pts. to Longton.

Longton began the second half as if they had been saving themselves for the wind advantage and soon took play deep into the Walsall half. After only 5 minutes the host's desperate defence conceded a penalty in front of the posts inside the "22" and Tony Wheat slotted over the kick with ease to put Longton 8 points ahead. Only two minutes later Walsall again transgressed, this time some 35m. out but once again Wheat calmly stroked the ball between the uprights for an 11-0pts. lead.Hooker, George Glenn who had been struggling with a thigh injury was withdrawn and 21st. prop, John Brookes came on with Mark Baker moving to hooker. This put the tiring Walsall pack under more pressure and when Rich Kelly was brought on into the second row he instantly destoyed the Walsall line out. With Longton now having the towering presence of Kelly, Rich Thompson and Owen Greatholder in the line out much of Walsall's possession came from turning over Longton possession, which in all fairness to them they did quite successfully on several occasions. It was, nevertheless, just a matter of time before more tries came from the Cup Holders. First, Tony Wheat made a clean break through the centre from a scrum and after several bouts of passing within the Longton backs replacement winger, Rick Christopherson streaked over for a well worked try which was converted by Wheat with a beautifully judged kick into the crosswind to make the score 18-0pts.
At this point Longton took their foot off the gas for the next 10mins. allowing Walsall to launch some attacks into the visitors' half but again the defence held firm, one superb tackle by Gary McDermott preventing what looked like a certain try.
After this short breather Longton took command again with the next try being straight out of the coaching manual. The pack produced good ball to Dan Needham who fed Tony Wheat; he dummied a pass to Tom Hughes before delivering a perfectly weighted ball to burly centre, Mike Swetman, and the 18st. back charged over from 20m. out under the posts. Wheat's conversion took the score to 25-0pts. to Longton.
By now Longton were making numerous changes, bringing on a further three substitutes but this did not prevent them from scoring a final try which almost matched the previous one for its execution as play was switched from open to blindside where Mike Swetman thundered onto the ball at pace. He shrugged off would be tacklers to dive over in the corner. He just failed to convert his own try with a fine kick to make the final score 30-0pts. to Longton.

Longton now face Burton at home in the semi final with the other semi final being Stoke versus Leek which is being played this Saturday.

Saturday 5 January 2008
Longton 1st XV 3 (Home) v Dudley KW1st XV 12
Longton Phoenix (Cancelled) v Dudley KW 2nd XV
Longton Stags 42 (Home) v Eccleshall 2nd XV 0 </