Old Halesonians 13, Peterborough Lions 5

HARD working Halesonians held out in the face of a second half onslaught from Peterborough to pick up a vital victory that keeps their promotion hopes alive.

In the wake of the previous week's defeat to fellow promotion contenders Scunthorpe, this was a game Hales simply had to win.

Playing conditions were nothing short of atrocious with pools of water scattered all over the pitch.

Added to that, the game was played in the face of driving wind and rain which made play a lottery at times.

Hales had the weather elements at their backs for the first half and took the lead after 15 minutes when Peterborough were penalised for deliberately wheeling a scrummage close to their line. The referee awarded a penalty try with full back Chris Hooper firing over the following conversion.

Further pressure failed to produce any further score before half time as both sets of players adjusted to the conditions.

The general observation among the home support at half time was the fact a 7-0 lead wasn't enough .

Sure enough, Hales soon found themselves under the cosh on resumption as Peterborough's giant pack began to make their presence felt.

However, a rare foray into Peterborough territory resulted with a penalty for Hales on 47 minutes.

Much to the crowd's amazement, Hooper elected to kick at goal from the best part of 40 metres out and into the teeth of a now gale-force wind.

Hooper's optimism proved correct as his kick sailed over to give Hales a crucial 10-0 cushion.

Peterborough's response was to pin Hales back deep inside their own 22.

They forced a succession of five metre scrums but their endless attempts to drive over from either set piece or rolling maul were repeatedly repelled as Hales dogged defence held firm.

It wasn't until the 78th minute that Hales were finally caught out when Peterborough scrum half Tom Dougherty picked up the ball from the base of a scrum and produced a deft kick ahead for right wing Vernon Horne to race through and touch down in the corner in what was a pre-planned move.

Fly half Will Carrington duly failed with the touchline conversion to make the score 10-5.

From the resulting kick-off, Peterborough were penalised for holding and Hooper made light of the conditions by landing the resulting penalty in what proved the last kick of the match - thus denying Peterborough the prospect of a bonus point.

Hales Director of Rugby Gary Cox was under no illusions of the significance of this victory and said: "If we'd lost this game - then we would have been out of the promotion race.

"As a result of this win, we're still alive and kicking.

"I thought we manned up really well in the second half and produced a very impressive defensive performance."

Halesonians: Chris Hooper; Joe Oxford, Carl Robinson, Ben Barkley, Luke Smith; Oli Raynor, Dave Hadkiss; Rob Butler, Sam Jones, Richard Taylor (capt); Loz Breese, Max MacFarlane, James Martin, Tom Jordan, Steve Leach.

Replacements: Cliff Tomkinson, Owen Jones, Andy Robinson.