Rasen fall just short as leaders Hinckley hold on

Rasen’s players produced the right attitude and gutsy determination from the start of the game, with Hinckley’s coach remarking afterwards it was his side’s toughest encounter so far this season.

An early penalty to Rasen saw a chance for three points go wide of the posts, while scrum and line-out pressure from Rasen was forcing Hinckley into handling errors.

However, after seeing Rasen’s Spen Holvey yellow carded for a late tackle, Hinckley used good ball from a line -out and a man advantage to spin the ball along the line and go over on the right wing.

Rasen twice went close to scoring, once held up inches short and then seeing what looked a certain try averted by a last-second tackle.

However, from the ensuing line-out Hinckley pushed Rasen back into their own 22 and quick line-out ball and an accurate chip over saw Hinckley in for their second.

From the re-start a free-kick to Rasen looked promising but a missed pass was snaffled by Hinckley and they powered over for try number three.

This was unfortunate for Rasen as almost the only times Hinckley had managed to actually get into the Rasen half they had come away with three scores and led 19-0 at half-time.

The second-half saw Rasen respond well after a scrum on the Hinckley 10m line, a penalty went straight to the hands of skipper Jake Pryer who powered his way past several defenders to score Rasen’s first and totally deserved first try.

Straight from the kick off Rasen were on the attack again and worked their way up to the Hinckley line through powerful attacking sets, great support play and accurate and unselfish off loads to team mates. Rasen secured a ruck in the far right corner a couple of yards from the line for Pryer to burst from the back of the ruck and slam over for his second try.

Rasen continued to put pressure on, but ultimately couldn’t do enough to secure any further scores as Hinckley held on for victory.