Hinckley 70 Bournville 28

Bournville were struck down by a bout of yellow fever which largely explained this heavy defeat at Leicester Road.

There were four yellow cards for Bourns players during the match and while they were down to 14 men – 13 for an eight minutes period in the first-half – Hinckley scored 50 of their points. In the periods when the sides had 15 men each on the pitch, Bourns won 28-20, a simple statistic which tells its own story.

From leading 14-3 after 11 minutes, Bourns found themselves losing 32-14 at half-time which became 65-14 midway through the second period.

At least Bourns salvaged a try bonus point with skipper Ben Meakin and his second-row colleague Harry Dawson crossing for late tries with Jacob Fewtrell having a perfect record off the tee with four conversions.

But there was no hiding that this was a disappointing performance from Bourns, particularly after the confidence built by the home victory over Lymm.

Bourns wanted a good start and got it with wing Sam Peppitt crossing in the second minute when he intercepted a Hinckley attack on halfway and raced away to score.

Hinckley pulled back three points through a penalty from Tom Addison but Bourns hit back with another opportunist try, this time from scrum-half Adam Collingwood who tapped and ran a penalty which caught Hinckley napping.

But that was about as good as it got for Bourns. Jake Thompson was the first to visit the sin bin for offside and he was quickly joined on the naughty step by hooker Jamie Harding when a scrum went down and Hinckley were awarded a penalty try.

With Callum Nicholls having to sit out ten minutes to allow the two front-row forwards to be replaced, Bourns were in some disarray and Hinckley were quick to capitalise with two more converted tries before Thompson and Harding returned.

But Bourns were soon back to 14 men when full-back Joe Jenkins was yellow carded for offside and Hinckley made the numerical advantage count with two more tries while he was missing.

Hinckley added two more tries when Bourns were back to a full complement but they again went a man down when Peppitt was yellow-carded which was quickly followed by two more Hinckley tries.

Meakin’s try briefly checked Hinckley’s momentum but the Leicestershire side responded with their tenth try from a driving lineout.

The one issue to be decided was whether Bourns could take something from the match and they showed character to do so. Fewtrell found touch on Hinckley’s 22 with a raking penalty kick and the pack drove their hosts back to the line with Dawson touching down to secure what could prove to be a vital point.