Bournville 43 Loughborough Students 24
Freddie Morgan booted Bournville to a famous victory which brought Loughborough’s unbeaten start to the season to a shuddering halt at Avery Fields.
Scrum-half Morgan contributed 23 points – 18 of them off the tee – to steer Bournville to a third successive bonus points home win and the biggest winning margin in the seven league meetings between the clubs.
Morgan also scored a cheeky first-half try, when a chip over the Loughborough defence sat up perfectly for him and he also kept Loughborough’s tacklers busy with some sniping runs.
But this was very much a team performance from Bournville and came after flanker Chris Idehen pulled up with an Achilles tendon in open play early in the match and tighthead prop Stef Thorp departed at half-time.
Louis Mifsud was also away on international duty with Malta but Kier Henderson filled the gap admirably and was outstanding on his competitive debut having stepped up from Sutton Coldfield via the Blues.
Thorp’s absence disrupted what had previously been Bournville’s dominant scrum as did the imposition of uncontested scrums for the final 15 minutes when Loughborough said they had insufficient fit front-row forwards.
Bournville did not allow those factors to unsettle them and they also showed resilience by emerging from a difficult ten minute spell midway through the second-half to secure the try bonus and nail down victory.
During that period it seemed that every decision and 50-50 call went against Bournville and Loughborough capitalised with replacement hooker Lucas Eule scoring two close range tries.
Loughborough were pushing for another try, which would have given them an opportunity to level at 31-31, when ferocious defence on the line from Bournville won an important turnover penalty.
That was the opportunity Bourns needed to clear their lines and exert pressure at the other end where Jasper Smith ploughed over for the important fourth try and Alex Evans nipped in at the death to put the seal on victory.
Loughborough played their part in a fast and open contest and went home with a try bonus point of their own but Bournville were rewarded for playing a pragmatic game with Morgan’s accurate kicking a key factor.
He landed two early penalties into a testing downfield wind and added two more early in the second period which meant Bournville pressure was rewarded with points on the scoreboard.
Bournville also showed good judgement in when to move the ball wide which brought a try for Evans after 14 minutes and another for centre Joe Jenkins seven minutes later after Dan Rundle had made the initial thrust down the left.
Morgan’s try just before half-time gave Bournville an 11 points lead at the break which he increased to 17 with his two second-half penalties.
Loughborough’s rally set up a tense final 15 minutes but Smith’s try settled any nerves and Evans denied Loughborough, who had not dropped a point in their first four matches, the sniff of a losing bonus point.
