Spalding 19 Bourne 19
Honours finished even in another nip and tuck derby encounter in Midlands Counties One East (South) Division.
Last season’s matches both ended up as away victories but it was all square this time as the Elephants added another two points to their opening day draw at Vipers.
With a few absentees in the pack, backs Jack Patrick and Wilson Crowson become flankers for the day and, with Jordan Templer again playing at hooker, it was a different looking set of Spalding forwards.
Fly half Liam Shields slotted over a penalty to give the hosts an early three-point lead
Spalding suffered a blow after 12 minutes when Templer was injured and had to be replaced by Fraser Canham.
However, the Elephants soon earned the lead when Patrick won a turnover and, with Crowson, George Douglas and Fergus McKerracher in support, a series of driving pick-and-goes established field possession just short of the try line before Sam Cowell went over in the corner for the opening try.
Templer returned to replace Zokas Raimondas after 30 minutes as Bourne were pushing to get back into the game and within minutes they took the lead when scrum half Joe Atkinson got a try.
Speed and a side step saw Sam Christie open up Bourne’s defence and he touched down behind the posts for a simple conversion by Conall Mason as a four-point lead swung to Spalding.
Back chat was punished with a penalty for Bourne and the ball sailed between the posts to see just one point dividing the teams at half time.
Spalding’s cause was not helped when Mason received a yellow card for dangerous neck contact early in the second half.
Despite being a man down, Spalding remained in control, with Ingleby pulling a penalty kick wide and then Christie’s chase of a kick ahead by Gav Sharman resulted in a touch down but it was overruled by the referee
Patrick caught Bourne’s defence napping from a quickly taken penalty with his quick thinking and dive over the try line setting up an easy conversion to put Spalding eight points clear.
With half an hour remaining, Bourne started to take more control and, after working a position in front of Spalding’s posts, a penalty kick pulled back the deficit to five points. Ten minutes later right wing Jon Levett’s pace and strength shredded Spalding’s defence as he scored wide on the left. With no conversion, the scores were level at 19 apiece with 15 minutes remaining
Raimondas came back on for Crowson, which helped stabilise the pack, as Bourne’s power had taken control of the scrum and Spalding were encamped within their 22, defending for their lives.
Spalding won a turnover to relive pressure but Bourne came straight back and with time nearly up their penalty kick sailed wide.
Spalding: Cowell, Templer, Da Silva, Douglas, Raimondas, Crowson, Patrick, McKerracher, Wraith, Ingleby, Shields, Mason, Christie, Sharman, Firth. Subs: Lewis, Canham, Machin.
l A solid first-half display saw Spalding Seconds build a decisive half time advantage against Leesbrook on their way to a 43-17 success.
Spalding outplayed their visitors in all aspects of the game before relaxing and allowing the Derby-based side to gain a little respectability with three second half tries.
With their first possession, Leesbrook kicked long but Harry Biehler-Birch took an excellent catch while running back and then performed an excellent return, catching the bounce of his own kick and easily outpacing the defence to score between the posts.
After good interplay down the right Henry Duce scored a touch down after 21 minutes, the fly half then made another try for Biehler-Birch and added his second conversion. Callum Ferguson added the fourth score after good pressure on the visitors’ line.
Some sloppy defending saw Spalding concede soon after the restart, however, they soon reinforced their dominance with Duce adding a second try and Biehler-Birch achieving his hat trick. Ronnie Crowfoot joined the scorers with Duce adding two conversions.
Leesbrook crossed twice more as Spalding made changes and gave game time to their replacements.
Pictures by Adrian Smith
