Rolls Royce RFC 51
Spalding RFC 29
Spalding RFC hit the self-destruct button on Saturday as they slipped to a 51-29 Midlands Three East (North) defeat at rivals Rolls Royce.
Despite scoring five tries and playing some excellent rugby, Town failed to secure their first away win of the season – instead earning a solitary bonus point and dropping down the league to fifth place.
The home team started the better, with the Elephants being caught offside at a ruck, a penalty kick going over and shortly afterwards Rolls Royce forwards driving upfield and controlling the ball for the opening try and conversion.
Spalding responded within five minutes as they mounted pressure and fly-half Willis Ingleby sliced through the defence. However, from the kick off the away defence seemed to go asleep and, with missed tackles, there was space out wide on the left for a simple run in and five points.
A quick response was needed and it came following good work by the forwards, with Jason Steels relishing his return with his thrusting carries. The ball was spread wide and a long pass out to right wing Ben Shields saw him touch down near the posts, but the conversion was missed by Willis Ingleby.
As the half-hour approached, Spalding looked to counter attack with left wing Gav Sharman in space and Conall Mason on his inside. But the pass by Harry Sharman was read and the interception left Rolls with a simple run in.
This was followed shortly afterwards by the hosts having a scrum on the five metre line and, with their front row gaining ascendancy, they drove forward for a 17-point lead.
Rolls then lost their dominant prop to a yellow card for not releasing and rolling away at the tackle area. Spalding kicked the penalty for a lineout, but they knocked on as they drove forward and a good scoring opportunity was lost.
Spalding’s catalogue of errors continued to blight them in the second half, too.
In possession and driving upfield, the ball was lost. Rolls hacked it forward and – with Spalding’s defence in disarray – the home team gratefully picked up and ran through.
Captain Dan Adams showed how a simple game plan move can work with an excellent break through Rolls’ midfield defence to score under the posts – but conversion was missed by Ingleby. Spalding now started to control the match, with hooker John Barrett full of running and
Harry Cole breaking tackle after tackle with his carries.
Harry Sharman soon helped himself to two tries in quick succession and the home team’s lead had been reduced to ten points with 25 minutes remaining.
Instead of building momentum, lack of concentration and poor execution killed off a comeback by Spalding. From the restart kick, Will Shields failed to gather in the ball, leaving a simple run-in, which was gratefully accepted by the home team.
Both Ryan Chappell and Macauley Crane were on and, from the restart kick, Chappell caught the ball at pace with the ball having travelled just beyond the ten metre line – but the referee called it back and awarded a scrum to Rolls.
With play opening up and Rolls took advantage to build some pressure. Conall Mason looked to have cleared his lines, with a relieving kick into open space, but it picked up by their left wing and with no defence in front of him the next try was scored.
Next up was a Spalding lineout 15 metres out from their try line. The throw was tapped back from the jumper to scrum half Ben Shields having moved from the wing, but their hooker ran through the line, intercepted the tap and scored.
Spalding were still creating opportunities and, from a lineout, Cole carried forward and released Harry Sharman to claim his hat-trick.
In patches, Town were clearly the better team and were more than capable of winning this away match.
But too many errors, lack of concentration at key times and poor execution they left themselves with too big a mountain to climb.
Due to being knocked out of all cup competitions, Spalding are without a game this weekend.
Town: Kev Hudson, John Barrett, Josh Caley, Richard Grew, Harry Cole, Edward Williams, Jason Steels, Harry Sharman, Will Shields, Willis Ingleby, Gav Sharman, Dan Adams, Tom Wilson, Ben Shields, Conall Mason. Subs: Richard Cooke, Ryan Chappell, Macauley Crane.
