28/09/2026
Senior 1XV GAMEDAY REPORT
Saturday 26th September
South Leicester 12
Oakham 22
South welcomed Oakham to Welford Road for the opening game of the 2026/27 season on a beautiful, sunny September afternoon.
Both teams had brought big squads and were itching to get stuck in.
Unfortunately for South, starting scrum-half Jack Timson suffered a freak injury within the first 90 seconds of the match, whilst making a great tackle on former South player Michael Browning.
We wish Jack all the best in his recovery as he has been a key member of the menโs squad since coming up from the colts.
Once the game restarted it was fairly even back and forth. Oakham made some solid line-breaks, with Souths defence holding firm. Oakham missing a penalty kick in front of the posts to keep the score 0-0
After some well worked phases Oakham finally breached Souths line for the first try of the game.
Oakhamโs pressure kept South in their own 22 and a pick from the back of a scrum resulted in Oakham getting their second score of the first half.
South didnโt drop their heads and kept the ball alive with some well worked phases and set pieces of their own. A great break from new signing Tyler Sholl gave Captain Gaz Nicholson space to open up the Oakham defence and after some clever inter passing with Dave Bell, his charge to the try line thwarted before he could ground the ball.
South were beginning to click now, keeping it simple and structured. Having only had a week together under new Coaches John Hemsley and โMikey Howes, their influence and ability to keep the lads focused resulted in some clever control of the phases for Tony Rudkin to crash over on his debut.
Dan Ford easily converted and it was now only 7-14.
Before the first half ended Oakham crossed the line for their 3rd try, but missed the conversion.
At the half:
South 7
Oakham 19
The second half started evenly matched again with neither team allowing the other to get a try. An errant penalty in front of Souths posts allowed Oakham to increase their lead
South 7
Oakham 22
South had to go down to 14 after Reece Chapman was shown a straight Red card for a head contact penalty. But the stalemate continued with Oakham unable to breach the South defence, but stalling Southโs attack with their overlap.
In the dying seconds of the game, after a solid attack led by Harry Slaymaker and Dan Ford, Oakham gave a string of penalties and Dave Bell trundled the ball up to the Oakham line, placing the ball back and allowing Rich โSweedeโ Swain to go for a trademark โpickโnโgoโ crash over try.
A close, but missed conversion finished the game
South 12
Oakham 22
Coach John Hemsley had this to say;
The lads showed the passion and attitude we asked for. We knew the first half was going to be tough, especially having had no pre-season games and coming up against a solid outfit.
But after the break, we really started to click. Even being down to 14 men didnโt stop us from outscoring our opponents in the second half.
It was a great start, and now we move on to what we know will be a tough away fixture at Stamford on Saturday. Itโs going to be a real test of the squad, but one weโre looking forward to.
