Dominant Spalding RFC ran in nine tries as they thrashed rivals Sleaford 54-0 in the NLD Cup on Saturday.
The all-Midlands Three East (North) clash at the Memorial Field was a very one-sided affair, with Town booking a home date with old foes Newark in the next round on November 10.
Spalding’s home league performance had seen them demolish both Bakewell and Buxton, while Sleaford have struggled for wins but have only been narrowly beaten.
The early exchanges were intense, with the visitors’ backs showing good passing ability and pace.
But Town centres George Brown and Conall Mason were pressing up and making an early impression with a number of good tackles.
However, it was the forwards with strong carries – particularly from Ash Ankar and George Berry – who started taking the game to Sleaford.
An offload by Jacob Greaves saw Luke Turner burst through a defensive tackles near the try line and he was over for the opening try.
Five minutes later the forwards again set up a good platform in Sleaford’s 22 and, from a ruck scrum-half Will Shields passed out to captain Dan Adams. On the burst, he sliced through Sleaford’s defence for the next try.
With Mason converting, a 12-point advantage had been clocked up for the Elephants after just 13 minutes of play.
Spalding’s try scoring machine, left winger Gav Sharman, was next up to score as he evaded Sleaford’s wide defence for the another converted try.
By now, the home team’s forwards were in control of most phases of play – showing a level of intensity that Sleaford were struggling to match.
Things got worse for the away side when a deliberate knock-on saw them lose a player for ten minutes to a yellow card.
Unlike last week, Spalding capitalised on their numerical advantage. Within a minute, having kicked for touch and Mark Haighton dominating at the front of the lineout , a maul formed and Harry Sharman burst forward to score.
With a half time lead of 22 points, Dan Adams – who was carrying an injury from the previous week – was replaced by last year’s captain Richard Cooke, who played scrum-half as Will Shields moved to fly-half.
Ash Anker was next up to score, using his strength to break two tackles to go under the posts.
With a comfortable lead, coach George Reid rang a further change with Kev Hudson replacing George Berry in the pack.
Much like the previous week, Town seemed to lose their shape and sharpness for about 15 minutes, but Sleaford were unable to mount any serious threat.
Harry Sharman, controlling matters from the base of a scrum, broke on the blind side with Gav Sharman the beneficiary of a pass into space for his second try of the afternoon.
Some of the younger players in the team then started to shine, with forward Harry Cole breaking down the right wing with impressive carries linking well with Ben Shields – who finished off one of the moves as he stepped back inside.
George Douglas, on his return at full-back, was also finding room for his runs and kicks forward, while Lewis Adams – on for George Brown – saw Sleaford’s defence part as he glided in for his debut try.
On a very blustery day, conversion kicks were extremely difficult. But once Mason had found his target in the first half, he impressed, with a total of four successful conversions.
The final try was scored by forward George Berry, who was back on from the subs bench. After a couple of determined carries, he finally found the try line two minutes before the final whistle.
Overall, it was an impressive all-round performance from Town, with good contributions from the youngers players who are gaining in match experience at this level and also from players coming off the bench in the second half.
Spalding will hope to keep their fine home form going this Saturday, when old foes Mansfield come to the Memorial Field (3pm) for a league clash.
Town: Jacob Greaves, John Barrett, Luke Turner, Mark Haighton, George Berry, Ash Anker, Harry Cole, Harry Sharman, Will Shields, Dan Adams, Gav Sharman, George Brown, Conall Mason, Ben Shields, George Douglas. Subs: Kev Hudson, Richard Cooke and Lewis Adams.
