Surrey beat Leicestershire for County Championship Shield

Posted on May 28, 2012 in County Championship Shield

Leicestershire 12-43 Surrey

Surrey avenged their defeat in the 2011 County Championship Shield Final as they scored six tries in a comprehensive victory over Leicestershire at Twickenham.

Leicestershire took the lead on 13 minutes through winger James Padley’s try in the corner after Surrey scrum half Steve Munford’s long-range penalty attempt four minutes earlier had fallen well short.

Munford was off-target with two more penalty shots in the opening 25 minutes as both sides struggled to maintain possession, but it was as a result of his break that Surrey drew level 14 minutes before the interval.

Munford’s offload after a 30-metre dash saw club mate Matt Higgins go close, and from the breakdown the latter’s second row partner and skipper Armand Roux gathered and crashed over the whitewash for five points.

But no sooner had the South East side equalised than Leicestershire regained the ascendancy, as the Midlanders drove Roux’s opposite number Stuart Bale over the try line from a maul three minutes later, with Mark Lord slotting the extras.

Winger Kris McFedries thought that he had extended Leicestershire’s lead seconds later, only for his effort to be disallowed by referee Mark Liddell for a forward pass.

And Surrey restored parity again on the stroke of half time when they shifted the ball wide inside their opponents’ 22 to Alrich Muller on the wing, with the centre’s score eventually approved by assistant referee Mike Lambert.

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