The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Spalding 15 Bourne 24
It was the final game of the league season and fittingly near neighbours Bourne were the visitors to Centenary Park.
The opening game of the season, early September, was away at Bourne’s Milking Nook ground, when Spalding came away with a 24-17 victory.
However, coming into the game, Bourne were lying fourth in Midlands Counties 1 East (South) with Spalding in seventh place, so no promotion or relegation issues for either team, just local bragging rights.
With a strong wind blowing across the pitch, Spalding started on the front foot, pinning Bourne back in their half and it soon became apparent that the game would be won around the breakdown area with both teams using forceful carries. Luke Turner, and Ash Ankar being prominent.
Bourne conceded a penalty ten metres from the try line.
With scrum ball secured, the Spalding pack exerted pressure, allowing Jack Grundy, number eight, to pick up and successfully drive over for the opening unconverted try. However Bourne were now in the game with their scrum half JonJo Roberts starting to become influential around the rucks with his short passes for runners to crash forward and within a few minutes their first try was scored, levelling the scores.
Line-outs were proving tricky in the wind with the safe bet finding jumpers at the front, which Bourne edged during the 80 minutes.
On the half hour Bourne’s centres broke through Spalding’s defensive line and a try looked a certainty, until Sam Christie, with his pace, hunted down, tackled and won a turnover to save the day.
But Bourne were now becoming more dominant and a converted try was the result with good play down the right wing.
Spalding’s response was swift. With the half time whistle imminent, George Douglas and Conall Mason combined to take the ball over the try line leaving Spalding two points adrift.
It was Bourne who took the initiative in the second half using strong runners to punch holes in Spalding’s defence and when they had the space they were more effective using their running backs.
But Bourne’s left winger was fortunate to intercept an off-load from a Spalding player and had a clear run to the try line from half way.
However, full-back Jack Patrick caught him five metres short with a great tackle saving the day
Bourne now had Spalding on the back foot with mounting pressure and their number eight Gareth Ramsden eased Bourne further in front with a converted try.
Spalding seemed to be playing into Bourne’s hands as the players opted not to stick to their game plan, apart from Grundy, who was outstanding. The result was that little headway was made against Bourne, and half way through the second half a Bourne lock forced his way over the try line to extend Bourne’s lead to 14 points.
Minutes were ticking away and Spalding’s fight back was not helped with Miguel Da Silva being yellow-carded for a high tackle, with 15 minutes remaining.
But Spalding did produce a late rally through the forwards making headway and it was Ankar who forced his way over in the final move of the game.
Both teams were not at their best after a hard season disrupted, the challenges of cancelled by training evenings and postponed games due to the appalling weather conditions this winter.
Both clubs now have cup competitions to play in the coming weeks.
Team: Sam Cowell, Miguel Da Silva, Luke Turner, George Douglas, Macauley Crane, Ash Ankar, Will Shields, Jack Grundy, Jim Wraith, Callum Ferguson, Ben Shields, Conall Mason, Adam Sutcliffe, Sam Christie, Jack Patrick, Petrus Schrauwers, Alex Worth.
