With no rugby for the last fortnight due to sodden and frozen pitches, Spalding Rugby Club had a very full weekend with the Seconds playing away at Thorney Friday evening, the Colts on Saturday playing Nottingham Corsairs in an NLD Cup game, and on Sunday Centenary Park was packed with visiting teams from Market Rasen, Mansfield and Holt.
But the stand out performance was the first team at home against Stewarts & Lloyds in a must-win game. The visitors were lying above Spalding in Counties 1 Midlands East (South), running in six tries to overwhelm the opposition.
However, the opening quarter of an hour saw Stewarts dominate territory forcing Spalding’s defence to stand up and be counted with their fly half Jay Manson pulling the strings.
The home team’s back row of Will Shields, Jack Grundy and Lachlan Summers were putting in some excellent tackles forcing a number of handling errors and turnovers.
Steadily, by playing the ball out wide through the backs, Spalding started to threaten and with 25 minutes of play with no score left wing Gav Sharman found space and broke away at speed.
With a covering tackle coming in a pass to outside centre Jack Patrick and the first try was on the score board.
Within a couple of minutes, scrum half Jim Wraith, who had an outstanding game, made a solo break and was stopped just short of the try line.
Stewarts reacted with some tough tackling and the referee had to call both captains together to lower the temperature.
But Spalding forwards were leading the charge with Summers making forceful full carries with props Sam Cowell and Luke Turner in support, and flanker Will Shield finished off with a try near the posts and Conall Mason converting.
Spalding were on a high, running the ball with purpose in open space and it was no surprise just before half time that Mason burst through Stewarts’ stretched defence to score under the posts and with a simple conversion, Spalding had a lead of 19 points.
Tom Parker replaced Cowell in the front row but it was the visitors who scored first with a converted try through their inside centre Kieran Manson to get them back into the game.
The battle in the forwards was competitive with both scrums holding their own, whilst at lineouts, George Douglas was supreme and Shields, at the front, stole several of Stewarts lineout ball and hooker Tom Rollinson’s throwing in was perfect on the day.
With a really poor tackle, full back Ryan Firth sustained a shoulder injury and was replaced by Sam Christie.
With a quarter of an hour left Spalding took a decisive lead.
Summer made a typical thrusting break through the middle setting up good ruck ball on Stewarts twenty two.
Scrum half Wraith was quickly there and, noting a lack of any cover defence by Stewarts, raced under the posts and with another simple conversion the try bonus point had been secured.
This was followed up by a stunning counter attack.
Sharman took a good catch and offloaded to Patrick just inside Spalding’s half.
Patrick sliced through a gap in the visitors’ defence and sped down the left wing outpacing all the cover defence to score by the corner flag.
The reward was to be replaced from the subs bench by Taylor Crowson.
With time nearly up, Spalding launched one final attack, with the ball fed across the backs by fly half Willis Ingleby it landed in right wing Ben Shields’ hands and from 20 yards out his speed and agility took him past the first couple of tackles and, as the final defence came in, Shields just managed to ground the ball on the try line.
This display was Spalding back to their very best.
Team: Sam Cowell, Tom Rollinson, Luke Turner, George Douglas, Harry Brett, Will Shields, Jack Grundy, Lachlan Summers, Jim Wraith, Willis Ingleby, Ben Shields, Conall Mason, Jack Patrick, Gav Sharman and Ryan Firth. Subs: Tom Parker, Sam Christie and Taylor Crowson.
Pictures by Adrian Smith.
