Panthers Seal The Group Stage Win

It was clear to see from the outset that Lincoln had come with and ambition to play wide, pacey rugby which would be a good match for the Panthers who pride themselves on their own ability to play a brand of rugby pleasing on the eye and right from the start this game would be a real crowd pleaser.

Chesterfield came out of the blocks at break neck speed, shocking the visitors with brutal carries and a smart passing game, this exemplified by centre Stuart Stogden cutting the perfect line to scythe through the Lincoln back line and go in under the posts only to see it chalked off due to an apparent knock on. For the first quarter Panthers dominated territory and really should have put some points on the scoreboard but against the run of play it was Lincoln who scored through their livewire number 9. This could have seen the young Panther’s heads drop but it just spurred them on.

In what became a constant theme of the match, it was in fact Lincoln players creeping offside at the line out that sparked Chesterfield’s first try with scrum half Matt Dunnington-Wallace dummying then setting fly half Tom O’Brien free who in turn hit Stogden on another hard line taking him up to the Lincoln 5 metre line where powerhouse Eddie Williams rolled back the years to pick and drive over the line for the Panther’s first try.

This gave Lincoln a fresh impetus looking to stretch the home teams defence and they looked like they had when the imps winger broke free only to be hit into touch by Stogden which was adjudged to be a high hit by the referee and so awarded the away team a penalty try. Again, going behind only seemed to improve the Panthers who were now starting to hit their stride and mounting pressure through forward carries, Russ Wall and Paddy Holleworth particularly impressing, this saw gaps appear and were immediately exploited by the impressive back line, the old combo of lovers Scott Widdowson and Glenn Grayson putting in Stuart Stogden into the corner.

With half time approaching, Panthers were looking to go into the lead for the first time and managed it through more forward pressure making space and yet another fantastic line from Stogden saw him beat 4 players to crash over for his second. Half time Panthers 17 Lincoln 14.
Half time saw a few changes non more influential than the enforced change of talismanic Irishman Adam Uprichard who was whisked off to A&E to have a few stitches in his gaping knee, adding to Panther’s frankly ridiculous injury list.

The second half saw the Panthers come out with a new outlook, looking to soften the defence of the away team, carrying relentlessly with aggression and pace, Steve Allen, Lee Laughton and Jake Ryan racking up the numbers. With the Lincoln defence now retreating, maverick fly half O’Brien spotted a gap and sailed through it, drawing in the full back to put away inside centre Scott Widdowson over the whitewash for the bonus point score. Lincoln were now starting to make errors and straight from the restart they kicked the ball straight into touch. From this innocuous error Panthers took a half way line free kick tapped by Matt Dunnington-Wallace and passed to skipper George Barnes who rampaged through the defensive line swatting away all would be tacklers with ease and even though looking as if he might pass out 40 metres in, still had the legs to power over the line for Chesterfield’s fifth and final try.

After the game Director of Rugby Leon Owen was full of pride for the players effort and coach Lee Whitmore said “the lads effort and heart has never been in doubt but what was so pleasing about today was our ability to see what the opposition had and adapt our game to find a way to win. I’m incredibly proud of the boys and we all look forward to playing in a final!”