Old Halesonians 23, Peterborough Lions 16

OUTSTANDING Old Halesonians pulled the rug from underneath second placed Peterborough with a pulsating display at wind-swept Wassell Grove, writes Nick Pullen.

Halesonians had to win this game to get themselves back in contention for second spot as runaway leaders South Leicester show no signs of stopping as they have now gone a massive 18 points clear at the top.

However the next seven sides started the day just 10 points apart and all to play for.

Hales made a superb start as flanker Loz Breeze brewed up a storm by forcing his way over for an eighth minute try following a sustained spell of early pressure.

Peterborough soon responded by going in front with two well taken penalties from the impressive boot of Will Carrington who struck twice in as many minutes.

Full back Chris Hooper then landed a penalty at the end of the opening quarter to put Hales back in front at 8-6.

Peterborough then had Lithuanian flanker Alra Balciunas yellow carded, but it took Hales the full 10 minutes to take advantage with speedmerchant right wing Luke Smith outsprinting Peterborough's back-pedalling defence to race over in the corner for a try.

But Peterborough bounced back right on the stroke of half time when skipper Chris Humphrey was driven over by his pack to score and the accurate Carrington duly converted to make the half time score 13-13.

Carrington soon added a second half penalty to put Peterborough back in front But the rest of the game belonged to Hales who started to take charge up front.

Continued pressure on Peterborough's line resulted with Breeze barging over for his second try of the game on 52 minutes.

Four minutes later the speedy Smith used his pace to good advantage as he hurtled over for his second try as well put Hales 23-16 ahead Sadly full back Chris Hooper was having an off day with boot, although he did hit the upright when trying to convert Smith's second try.

Hales spent most of the half pounding the Peterborough line but couldn't turn their advantage into ponts They won several penalties, but opted to kick at goal in an attempt to put the game to bed, but missed on every occasions.

It meant they had to survive some later Peterborough pressure, but the win was no more than Hales deserved, with their pack in particular proving much the better.

Hales Director of Rugby Gary Cox revealed : "We've been working on our fitness since Christmas and we reaped the reward for that.

"I think some of the players had too much Christmas pudding so we had to put that right.

"Make no mistake, this was a must win game and was well deserved, especially as I think it was Peterborough's first defeat in seven games."

Old Halesonians: Chris Hooper; Warren Oliver, Andy Holloway, Carl Robinson, Luke Smith; Gareth Bown, Nathan Jones; Louis Padian, Pete Fitzgerald, Richard Taylor (capt), Guy Field, Tom King, Loz Breeze, James Martin, Mark Evans: Tom Dempsey, James Sadler, Patrick Lufkin.