Norton Down saw competitive rugby for the first time in many months when Longlevens RFC, coached by former Norton player/coach, Tom Lovell, visited for a pre-season friendly.
The recent wet weather had made the pitches playable, but, unfortunately, the rain decided to return later in the afternoon, making the conditions awful for the small group of spectators who had braved the elements.
Norton started brighter of the two sides, and scored first in the sixth minute with a try from Ben Palmer, and again after fifteen minutes, when Alex Mitchard made a break near the halfway line, to extend the lead to 10–0.
Longlevens slowly worked the journey out of their legs and put some continuity into their attacks. This gave them the next scores on 22 minutes and again on the half-hour mark, to level the score 10–10 at the half-time break.
The weather had now turned into heavy rain, causing both sides to make a number of handling errors. But the home side are used to playing in persistent rain at Norton Down, and seem to prefer playing up the slope.
The teams swapped scores, with Goddard collecting the points for Norton, taking the scoreboard to 17–17 – the game seemed to be drifting into a disappointing draw. But the Norton team were determined to gain their first win.
Norton upped their work rate and spent the closing minutes of the game pressurising the visitors’ line with a series of pick and drives. This pressure resulted in a score for Jenner, giving the home side their first win of the season, 22–17.
The afternoon will have given the coaching teams from both clubs plenty to work on, before next weekend when the two clubs will meet again, this time at Longlevens RFC.