Bournville Head Coach Alex Grove said he was “exceptionally proud” of the team after they battled back from being 14 points down at half-time to draw 29-29 with Loughborough Students at Avery Fields.
Loughborough were always a threat in attack but Bourns’ physicality in the second-half ensured that they secured three priceless points and they also out-scored the Students 5-4 on tries.
“I am exceptionally proud of the effort that everyone put in. It’s hard to single people out after a performance like that,” Grove said.
“We challenged the group to dominate collisions with and without the ball today and I think we did that.
“Physically we had the better of Loughborough. We were obviously mindful of their fitness and their ability to keep going and going, but so did our guys today. You could see that from how we got back into the game having been 14 points down at half-time.
“A few times in the first-half we were spilling balls in the carry and a couple of those led to tries. A couple of their tries they didn’t have to work hard for which is frustrating.
“But we didn’t deviate from the plan, we just tidied it up a bit more in the second-half and it got us into a position where we had an opportunity to win the game.
“Clearly we had opportunities to win the game – even that last passage of play you could argue that with our tails up we had an opportunity to win – but it’s also important to recognise the opportunities they had to win and put the game out of reach.
“They were held up a couple of times. We had a few try-saving tackles and that is a testament to the effort and the way that lads never gave up on the cause.
“Loughborough will be frustrated that they didn’t walk away with five points today but, on balance, a draw was probably a fair result.”
The return of Sam Grimshaw, Adam Shaw, Kieran Henderson and Callum Nicholls from injuries gave Bourns the experience and physicality they lacked at Luctonians but Grove was delighted with the contributions of all 20 players who took the pitch, particularly Will Loftus on his first appearance in two years.
“It’s so hard to single people out after that but a shout-out to Will Loftus who rejoined us from Birmingham University two years ago. Again, he was brilliant,” Grove said.
