Sat 25 Oct 2025, 15:00
Hornets v Loughborough University
Hornets welcomed the Students of Loughborough University to the Nest in the latest National 2 West League match and in a highly entertaining, high intensity game were impressive with their 5 tries to 2 victory and bagged another bonus point victory to send the Students home pointless.
Prior to the game the Clubhouse was packed as Hornet and Northampton and England Hooker Curtis Langdon was guest of honour and entertained the diners with a fantastic Question and Answer spot with resident host James Carter.
On a bright and breezy Saturday afternoon Hornets knew they had to start quickly and after the tough away loss to Redruth the week earlier were keen to get the home advantage and apply their strategy against a very young fit side.
The game started at a fast pace and as you would expect the Students were obviously going to run everything from everywhere and that's how it panned out.
From deep inside their own half the visitors run at Hornets with ball in hand but Huw Morgan had read the situation and cleverly intercepted a pass and sauntered to the line under the posts for the first try converted by Charlie Carter.7-0.
Hornets were in control and when quick ball delivered by James Murray slick handling and Skipper Kieran Ward surged through a gap and had the exciting open side youngster Sonny Davis on his shoulder and a simple 2 on 1 situation was well executed and Davis was through and the next score converted by Carter and only 7 minutes on the clock.14-0.
Loughborough then regrouped and started to apply their game but were thwarted by quality defence as Hornets were knocking the would be attackers backwards but they kept coming and on 30 minutes were rewarded with a try to get back in to the game 14-7.
As things started to get loose both sides going hammer and tong at each other and some brilliant rugby by both sides ,the next score was soon to come along and on 35 minutes the inevitable try by winger Josh Sheppard and carter again with the extras 21-7.
The game was still frantic and you would of expected that to be it before the break but the try of the match and bonus point was earned when Hornets launched and attack.
Superb handling from both forwards and backs as between them Owen Griffiths, Sheppard, Corey Baker and man of the match Tom Read put a series of high quality plays to put Murray over for a sucker punch score right on halftime and Carter completed the score 28-7 HT.
The Students came out in the second half and threw the kitchen sink at Hornets but again through solid defence kept them out, both sides emptied their bench as the physicality was draining the players strength.
After 60 minutes and for most of that time in the second half Hornets were defending their line but 1 too many penalties from the hosts and Joachim Hullah was sent to the bin and so the visitors sensed their chance. They gave it everything but it took another 7 minutes until they got their reward and the gap closed to 28-14.
Hornets as always are an attacking side and started to work their way down the pitch to get deep into the Students 22 and a stray kick by the defence found Connor Vickery who gratefully caught the ball and went over under the posts untouched and Carter finished his faultless kicking day with another and daylight with just 9 minutes left.35-14.
Hornets then just had to keep the Students at arms length which they did successfully and the ref blew for full time. Final Score Hornets 35 Loughborough University 14.
This was a superb display from the team and with a mix of old and young are showing this is shaping up to be another exciting one .
The block of 8 consecutive games comes to an end now and Hornets take a well earned rest next week before their mouthwatering visit to unbeaten league leaders in Camborne on the 8th November. Hornets sit in 5th spot in the league after the opening salvos and with 5 victories under their belt look forward to locking horns with Camborne where they pushed them right to the wire there last season.
Match photos HERE
