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RAMPANT LIONS STUN ROVERS!
3 days ago
SWINTON LIONS 28 FEATHERSTONE ROVERS 8 IAN RIGG at Heywood Road, Sunday 8 September 2024 The Lions put in a superb performance to claim a season’s double over Rovers and move out of the bottom two. The last time the Lions did the double over Rovers was in the 1962/3 season. It was Rovers who took the lead in the fourth minute when Danny Addy put in a short kick and Greg Minikin scored on the right, but Dec Patton was unable to convert. Patton then tried to set up Greg Eden, but the kick ran dead with the fullback chasing. The Lions forced two goal line drop-outs, but nothing came from them and then Brad Day and Connor Barley had chances for Rovers, but both knocked on in good positions. The Lions took the lead on sixteen minutes when Gav Rodden, Jayden Hatton and Lewis Hall combined to send Richard Lepori in by the posts and Dan Abram converted. Good Lions defence thwarted Rovers twice before the Lions went further ahead when Jayden Hatton put in an arched run to latch on to a pass by Jordy Gibson to score by the posts and Abram again converted. It looked like Abram was going to add the Lions third try when he chased a Gibson kick but knocked on diving for the line and then kicked the ball away and was sent to the sin-bin for delaying the restart. Rovers tried to come strong again and Barley had a good chance for the corner but lost the ball near the line. The second half started well for the Lions when Mitch Cox stole the ball one on one from Connor Jones and this put the Lions back on the attack. And in the forty-sixth minute Rodden put in a nice kick for the corner and Rhys Williams went in for a try but Abram was unable to convert. An incident was placed on report for a tackle on Jack Stevens and from the penalty play Williams almost got Rodden away, but he knocked on. Rovers then bombed a try when Patton kicked for the right corner, but Maddox Jeffery could not hold the ball to score. The next Lions try came on the hour when smart thinking by Jake Spedding went short side and sent Lepori in for his second in the right corner, but Abram could not convert this one. Just after the restart Lepori made a break down the right, but the Rovers defence held him short. Rovers added their second try on sixty-five minutes when Eden scored in the corner but again no conversion. The Lions were getting on top again and Lepori scored his third with thirteen minutes left when Jack Stevens kicked for the corner and the ball bounced nicely off his boot for him to score and claim his 100th point for the club with Abram adding the conversion. There was more and more pressure on the Rovers line as timed ticked away and the visitors could not get away, but it was the Lions who scored the last points of the match when Abram kicked a penalty for backchat. The game finished with the Lions on the attack in the Rovers twenty. LIONS 1 Dan Abram 25 Richard Lepori 3 Jake Spedding 4 Jayden Hatton 5 Rhys Williams 18 Jack Stevens 7 Jordy Gibson 10 Gavin Bennion 14 Josh Eaves 13 Mikey Wood 11 Gav Rodden 12 Mitch Cox 16 Lewis Hall Subs (all used) 20 Jack Houghton 26 Ant Walker 24 Jordan Case 8 Liam Cooper Tries: Lepori (16. 60.67), Hatton (26), Williams (46) Goals: Abram 4/6 Sin-bin: Abram (29) delaying the restart Man-of-Match: Ant Walker ROVERS 26 Greg Eden 31 Connor Barley 4 Greg Minikin 3 Josh Hardcastle 29 Maddox Jeffery 13 Danny Addy 30 Dec Patton 36 James Lockwood 9 Connor Jones 32 Ben Nabkubuwai 11 Brad Day 12 Jack Bussey 37 Jimmy Beckett Subs (all used) 8 Gadwin Springer 14 Harry Bowes 23 Jack Arnold 15 Wellington Albert Tries: Minikin (4), Eden (65) Goals: Patton 0/2 Penalty count: 6-5 Half-time: 12-4 Referee: Scott Mikalauskas Attendance: 780
