A strong-looking Spalding RFC Nomads side picked up a fine 22-0 victory over Nottingham Casuals 2nd in the Pennant League on Saturday.
With Jason Steels returning as skipper and a pack of forwards full of experience and some young guns in the backs, the game ran to form with Spalding having a dominant scrum.
Whenever the ball went out wide along the backs, there was speed and excellent handling too.
The first half was a battle of attrition, with both teams happy to keep it in the forwards. But the first score came from left winger Gav Sharman, escaping a couple of tackles and using his speed to outpace the defence to score out wide for an unconverted try.
This was followed by lock Kev Hudson charging for the line and appearing to have scored – only for the referee judging the ball to have been lost forward.
The Nomads were again unlucky with a move down the right wing, with Ben Shields cutting back inside and Harry Waine continuing the move to score in the corner, only to have the try disallowed for having a foot in touch.
With only one score separating the teams, the Nomads upped their game in the second half, led by their forwards who were now in the ascendancy.
As they drove deep into Casuals half, with Jason Miller and Dave McClaren prominent, a good pass from scrum-half Richard Cooke to fly-half Will Shields provided him with the space to glide past the defence and under the posts for a good try, with Mikey Watts converting.
Casuals were now tiring and both centres, Reece Callaby and Harry Waine, were finding space to show their speed. It was the latter who found a gap and, with the luxury of a two on one, he went sailing past the last man in defence for an unconverted try
The afternoon was capped off by Sharman collecting a spectacular second try. Deep in his own half he caught a high kick forward from Casuals and immediately attacked, sweeping around his
team-mate Jack Allen at full-back and outpaced the whole of the Casuals team as he sped down the left wing to score in the corner to secure a bonus point win with the fourth try.
Spalding Nomads: Watts, M Waine, Boothby, Hudson, Miller, McClaren, Cole, Steels, Cooke, B Shields, G Sharman, H Waine, Callaby, B Shields, Allen. Subs O Waine, Elsey and Osborne.
- Next game: Rushden & Higham 2nd v Nomads (Feb 18, 2.15pm)
