Woolston Rovers B 10 RAF Leeming Hawks 14

WOOLSTON Rovers B suffered a last gasp defeat to RAF Leeming Hawks in the John Billington Memorial Trophy on Tuesday at Monks Sports Club.

The game was played in a fantastic spirit between two very committed sides and it hung in the balance right until the final moments, when the RAF snatched victory with a fine try that left Rovers with very little time to respond.

Rovers opened the scoring in the ninth minute when good work close to the RAF line saw substitute Scott Whiteley find second row Lewis Hoarty out wide and his superb one handed offload put winger Craig Davies over in the right corner.

Leeming Hawks responded eight minutes later when they forced a repeat set and the pressure on the Rovers line paid off when loose forward Andy Holland went over from close range to score on the left and level the scores.

The RAF took the lead for the first time two minutes into the second half when a long kick downfield by Rovers was collected by full back Micky Piper on his own 20 metre line and he broke through the middle with a great run before chipping over his opposite number and re-gathering to race over wide on the left.

Just after the hour mark Rovers hit back when a lovely chip into the in-goal area by full back Liam Sullivan saw Hoarty react brilliantly to touchdown wide on the right just before the ball went dead. Stand off Dominic Ball converted to give his side a slender two point advantage.

As the game entered the final minute the RAF managed to earn a scrum deep in the Rovers half and from that they managed to keep the ball alive and it reached winger James Wilson who found centre Dan Morgan and he managed to ground the ball wide out on the right.

M Piper converted and despite Rovers managing to regain the ball from a short kick off they were unable to hit back and it was the RAF who were left to lift the Trophy after a pulsating encounter.

Man of the match for the RAF was full back Micky Piper who was well supported by prop forward Bobby McGregor and centre Leeroy Queeley, whilst Rovers’ man of the match was awarded to full back Liam Sullivan, who was run very close by second row pair Phil Stevens and Lewis Hoarty.

Rovers B: Liam Sullivan, Matt Robinson, Paul Wilson, Conor Gerrard, Craig Davies, Dominic Ball, Will Chadwick, Richard Potts, Josh Sudlow, Dave Appleby, Lewis Hoarty, Phil Stevens, Dave Kelly. Subs: Danny Halliwell, Tom Fagan, Lee Westwood, Scott Whiteley, Tom Harvey, Gareth Dowson.