Not even the damp and drizzly weather could ruin the excitement of one of the biggest games in Loughborough Students RFC history, as they lost to the Barbarians, managed by former student Andy Robinson, 7-40.
Despite the poor weather, a large and excited crowd had gathered to support the boys off the back of their recent promotion to National League 1. Both teams started the game strongly, and the vocal crowd were looking to give Loughborough the home advantage.
Loughborough were looking good as Craig Holland, top try scorer of the season, started the charge towards the line, whilst Chris Kinloch at centre put in some big hits.
The Baa-Baa’s continued to push hard however, and it wasn’t long before they got their first try and conversion of the game, soon followed by another to make the score 0-14.
Loughborough didn’t let their heads drop, and a fantastic effort by captain Russell Weir saw the home side get their first points of the game, and with Andy Hall converting the score was 7-14.
This soon changed as Olly Robinson got yellow carded, and the pace of play soon slowed down and Loughborough got stuck in their own half, allowing Andy Robinson’s side to etch further in front with another try just before half time, 7-21.
The half time presentation saw the rugby club get presented with an award for their contribution to the game.
The second half got underway very much as the first half ended. Loughborough made several changes to their team, but the Barbarians continued to push forward.
The rain continued to fall, and the home side were twice mere inches from making it to the try line, a pass wide made a third attempt more likely but it clearly wasn’t meant to be, as an incredible breakaway and counter attack from the Baa-Baa’s followed.
The visiting side went on to score two more tries, and the match finished 7-40.
The score was not a reflection of the hard work and skill which was seen on the pitch from the National 2 Champions. In fact the score was almost irrelevant, and the focus was centred around the celebration of the game, but more specifically on how hard the players and coaches have worked over the last few years to get the club to where it is today.
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