ALAN Manning believes his Lions charges were overwhelmed by the importance of their crucial league clash against Old Patesians.

Locked at 10-10 at half-time on Saturday, Manning’s men eventually ground out a 26-13 victory against their National Three South West title rivals, but slipped into second place after failing to secure a try-scoring bonus point.

Hartpury College took over on top following a 36-10 triumph at Chinnor, but Saturday’s win did open up a 13-point gap between Lions and Old Pates in third.

Manning told the Echo: “We started pretty poorly and didn’t click at all. Maybe we were a bit overwhelmed by the importance of the match and they scored quite early on.

“But we ground our way back into it and we are pretty happy with what we did.”

Jack Hennings’s try kept Lions in the hunt during an even opening period, while Dan Pollard’s kicking helped David Dunn’s side go into the break all square.

Pollard then continued his accuracy with the boot after the break, slotting over two more penalties to put Lions in control.

Leading try scorers Sam Yarwood and Sam Hardcastle then got in on the action with a brace of unconverted tries to secure the points.

“It’s always good when the two Sams are on the score sheet,” added Manning. “Sam Hardcastle is so influential where he plays. We missed him last season through injury and this season he has been back to his usual self.

“Sam Yarwood is the same – when he gets the ball he will take his chance and do his best to finish for us.”

Despite the lack of a bonus point and Lions falling behind Hartpury in the race for the championship, captain Manning was pleased to have developed a gap back to third place.

“The gap does help our cause,” added the prop. “We can’t relax, but we can focus on Hartpury now.

“We don’t have to worry about other results, or maybe dropping a bonus point in the future to the teams below us, as it might not affect things so much.

“We’ve got to keep up and keep looking to see if Hartpury drop any points and be there, knocking on the door, ready to take over.”

Lions: K Lynch, Yarwood, Bruce, Chislett, Stewart (Connolly, 66), Pollard, Hardcastle, Wareham, Wilford, Manning, Forrest, Brooks (Ford, 59), Hennings, Cawley, Hughes.