In a contest that was marred by penalties and numerous off the ball incidents Hoppers went down to their second consecutive defeat, this time at home to a physical Rugby Lions side.
Hoppers got of to a disastrous start and were behind in the opening minute. After failing to deal with the opening kick off, they surrendered possession to the Lions who spread the ball quickly from left to right where wing Tom Harris cut inside beating several defender, he was eventually tackled only for the ball to be recycled and moved to the left wing where Jeff Gregson touchdown in the corner. Full back Lloyd Warner slotted the conversion from the touchline.
It took Hoppers a while to get some prolonged possession and territory but they made it count with Dominic Moon making good ground from the base of a scrum and were awarded a penalty after interference around the next ruck which Mark Edwards was successful.
Rugby were able to restore their 7 point lead with a Warner penalty when Hoppers were penalized for being offside and increased the lead on the stroke of halftime with Gregson bagging his second try, touching down in virtually the same spot. He was on the end of a well worked backs move that came from a line out on the Hoppers 22. Warner was again successful with a difficult kick.
The second half started off in a similar vain, as Hoppers were unable to secure any quality ball and Rugby were able to stay on the front foot and play the ball into the corners well. They were rewarded with their third try not long after the restart when they disrupted a scrum inside the Hoppers 22 and once again move the ball quickly from one side of the field to the other with Warner hitting a good line and crossing for the try.
This, and a quartet of substitutions, seemed to spark Hoppers into action and they were able to cross the line for the first time. After a couple of scrums in the opponents 22 Hoppers took a quick tap from a penalty just 5 metres from the line, and while Rugby were able to stop the initial drive Richard Morton was able to power over from close range. Edwards added the extras.
Both sides enjoyed and spurned some good possession and things looked bleak the home side when Luke Cunningham was shown a yellow card for killing the ball. From the resulting penalty Rugby went for the win and a try bonus point by kicking to the corner but for once the backs were unable to press home the advantage and spilled the ball just in front of the post, Hoppers collected and moved the ball to Darren Wilson, who had moved to the wing, he beat the first man and sprinted the length of the field, leaving with Lions defenders in his wake to score beneath the post, with Edwards adding the conversion to make the score 17-22 a second miraculous home comeback looked possible.
However, a decision by the referee to award a kickable penalty to Rugby just minutes later for a 50/50 off the ball incident Warner was able to push the Rugby lead out to 8 points and in the last play of the game with Hoppers throwing caution to the wind Gregson pounced on a knock on and was able to sprint in from 60m to complete his hat trick.
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