Ashbourne 78
Spalding RFC 14
Ravaged by injuries, unavailability, late withdrawals and a virus Spalding RFC were always on a hiding to nothing at Ashbourne on Saturday.
With just 13 reasonably fit players making the always tough trip to Ashbourne, Town put in a remarkable first-half performance to only trail 25-14 at the interval – before eventually succumbing 78-14.
That means the Elephants go into 2017 bottom of the Midlands Two East (North) table and a sizeable ten points from safety.
At the best of times Ashbourne away is one of the most difficult games within the league, with their muddy sloping pitch.
Spalding took to the field realising that their fate was already sealed but the afternoon would be all about how they could limit the home team’s final score.
Town kicked off with the slope advantage for the first half, and initially it was difficult to separate the two teams.
Spalding’s tactics for the afternoon immediately became clear, as they used fly-half James West to kick for territory at every opportunity.
This took Spalding down into Ashbourne’s final third and at a breakdown Will Shields, scrum half, smartly spotted a gap and within a flash he ran unchallenged to go under the posts for the opening score – duly converted by West. The home team and supporters were stunned.
From the restart Ashbourne immediately capitalised on their superior numbers with initial thrusts from their forwards pulling in Town’s limited defence and then supplying ball out wide.
The hosts, unsurprisingly, ran in three tries in quick succession. But Spalding were making it a contest and applying themselves to the task with intelligence and commitment.
Lineouts were reduced to four players with Harry Waine being used as the front jumper – and throughout the afternoon the players did a remarkable job, winning most of their own ball. On
Ashbourne’s lineout Spalding did not contest and initially drew a couple of offside decisions in their favour, enabling them to clear their lines.
Captain Harry Brown was the next to conjure up a bit of magic to stun Ashbourne. From a lineout he peeled around the front, catching everybody asleep and – from 50 yards out – burst down the right wing.
With two Ashbourne players bearing down on him, Brown, reached the try line and, from a difficult angle, West, again converted
By half-time the home team had picked up a couple of further tries, but a deficit of 25-14 was a remarkable performance from the visitors.
However, reality set in during the second half as Ashbourne brought on fresh forwards to punch ever larger holes in Spalding’s weakening defence – having tackled themselves into the ground.
An amazing feature during the game had been Spalding’s scrum performance. Sam Cowell did an excellent job striking the ball so quickly back to Harry Brown, who feed West to kick. Amazingly the scrum was rarely lost.
At the final whistle the 13 players were applauded off the field by their hosts.
Spalding RFC: Kev Hudson, Sam Cowell, John Barrett, Mark Elsey Harry Waine, Harry Brown, Will Shields, James West, Adam Castle, Harry Winch, George Brown, Chris Douglas and George Douglas.
