Nottingham Casuals 17
Spalding RFC 23
Resurgent Spalding RFC stormed to their first Midlands Two East (N) away win of the season on Saturday as they climbed out of the drop zone.
Tries from Ed Booth, Harry Sharman, Adam McHugh and Dan Adams earned Town a vital 23-17 success at relegation rivals Nottingham Casuals and saw them leapfrog fellow strugglers Mansfield in the table.
With just seven games to go, the Elephants are now just five points behind Casuals in the table and now have their destiny in their own hands.
Skipper Sam Cooke had called for his side to stand up and be counted prior to the trip to Nottinghamshire – and he got exactly what he asked for. After a couple of sterling performances at prop,
Mikey Watts started in the front row with Pete Waudby on the bench.
Ash Anker and Tim Waltham were this Saturday’s lock pairing and in the backs both winger Chris Eggleton and full back Booth retained their places.
From the kick off Spalding soon showed greater discipline at the breakdown, with Casuals conceding a series of penalties as the visitors worked their way down the pitch with the benefit of the wind in their favour.
They soon opened the scoring as, with the ball secured from a scrum, it was kicked forward down the left hand side.
Booth chased, picked up and touched down for the opening unconverted try.
The hosts immediately responded from the kick off, testing Spalding’s defence to the limit. They held firm with the forwards working hard, turning a tackle into a maul and holding the ball carrier up and gaining several turn overs. However, Nottingham’s excellent number ten finally broke the line to level the scores.
Jay Harwood was then yellow carded for not releasing at the breakdown, but shortly afterwards Casuals infringed again.
And, with the penalty in front of the posts this time, Tom Winch converted.
Spalding continued to press and desperate defence on their line saw the home side’s number two yellow carded for not releasing the ball centimetres short of the try line. However, a quickly-taken tap penalty did not bring any reward and Town went into half time with a narrow three-point lead.
The game started to open up in the second half, with Spalding using pick and go tactics around the breakdown. From one of those attacks, Sharman spotted a gap on the blind side for an unconverted try.
A further notable bonus for the Elephants was winning the ball against the head at a Casuals scrum, but the home team kept coming forward.
They got themselves right back in the game from a five-metre scrum as the ball flowed along the backs and a missed tackle allowed them to reduce the away lead to a single point.
It was now the home team’s turn to defend on their own line, with a Spalding driving maul from a lineout being illegally stopped just before the try line. A quick tapped penalty saw McHugh break through the defensive tackle and over for their third try.
Both Harwood and Chris Eggleton then sustained injuries, replaced by Brian Browne and Adams, while Pete Waudby also came on for Kier Moore in the front row.
Soon after making those changes, Spalding produced the best move of the game to essentially seal the points.
Deep in their own half, Town won another turnover ball at a failed maul. From the scrum Harry Brown picked up the ball at the base, feeding scrum-half Will Shields.
An accurate pass to fly-half McHugh saw him burst through a tackle on their 22 metre line and race up to half way, passing to Booth who continued the move. With the last covering Casuals player being drawn in, a sublime pass released Adams down the wing for a wonderful team try – and extended the lead to 11 points
Town then had ten minutes to hold out as the home side tried to get something out of the game and in the last minute they were rewarded with the final try.
The late score failed to take the gloss off Spalding’s first away victory since a 23-18 success at Belgrave on the final day of last season in April.
Climbing out of the drop zone for the first time this season also gives Town every chance of avoiding back-to-back relegations.
They host seventh-placed Southwell next on Saturday.
Spalding RFC: Mikey Watts, Sam Cooke (captain), Keir Moore, Ash Anker, Tim Waltham, Jay Harwood, Harry Sharman, Harry Brown, Will Shields, Adam McHugh, Chris Eggleton, Sion Williams, George Brown, Tom Winch, Ed Booth. Subs: Pete Waudby, Brian Browne and Dan Adams.
- Coming up: Ashbourne v Spalding (Feb 27); Spalding v West Bridgford (March 5); Stamford v Spalding (March 19); Spalding v Ashbourne (April 2); Bakewell v Spalding (April 9).
