Preston Grasshoppers 49 Rugby Lions 16 (From Preston and Leyland Citizen)

Preston Grasshoppers 49 Rugby Lions 16

1:30pm Monday 3rd November 2008

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Hoppers at last played to something like their full potential in this demolition of Bradford and Bingley, running in seven tries, all scored by the backs who had too much pace and flare for a Bees side whose main tactic was the rolling maul.

The two kickers exchanged penalties before Bees’ James Hewitt put over another to go ahead.

Then on 14 minutes, Marcus Jackson’s pin point cross kick was caught by wing Russell Flynn and supporting full back Tom Hughes finished off, Jackson converting.

Four minutes later, a blind side break saw Flynn hold on to a difficult pass to score himself but the kick failed.

Jackson kept Hoppers on the attack with the boot and after a clear overlap had been squandered, kicked his second penalty to make it 18-6 at the break.

At the restart, Hoppers turned over ball on halfway and Darren Wilson scampered in from 50 metres for a trademark try, Jackson converting.

Five minutes later another flowing backs move put in Flynn for his second.

From the kick off, Hughes fielded a kick through and shrugged off several would-be tacklers to score a fine individual try.

Forward exchanges became a little heated and Hoppers suffered a yellow card but the Bees failed to make it tell and, after turnover ball, a long pass found the predatory Flynn who barged over, both tries converted by Jackson.

Not to be outdone, Hughes was again up in support to complete his hat-trick but Jackson’s conversion just failed to bring up the half century.

To their credit prompted by tireless scrum half, Joe Bartlett, the Bees rallied in the last 15 minutes and, with Hoppers ringing the changes from the bench and losing some concentration, ran in two unanswered consolation tries.

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