Spalding Grammar School’s 15-a-side rugby season came to an extremely successful end last week as both the under-14 and under-16 sides were crowned Lincolnshire Schools champions.
Both teams travelled to Lincoln Rugby Club for their respective finals against the same opposition – De Aston School from Market Rasen.
Kicking off slightly earlier, the under-14s started brightly as the Spalding (SGS) forwards asserted early dominance and gained a quick turnover.
That allowed scrum-half Keilin Spurdens and fly-half Patrick Harrington to pass the ball wide to Will Hughes, who scored under the posts.
Charles Hughes was then able to score a fantastic individual try after claiming the restart, showing great speed and agility to go past numerous De Aston defenders.
Captain Harrington was able to kick both early conversions, helping the SGS boys into an imposing 14-0 lead with only four minutes played.
For the remainder of the match, the forward pack were able to dominate in the contact area – which provided the Spalding backs with an excellent platform to attack from.
Excellent tackling from Henry Hoyles and Will Neal, as well as sharp work from flankers Jack Patrick, Cameron McGeown and Oliver Simpson, made it very difficult for the opposition to get past the gain line further, helping the SGS cause.
More tries in the first half resulted in the score being 48-0 at the break.
In the second half Aaron Brundle, on his return to the team, was able to impress on the right wing as he scored two tries further strengthening the squads position in the match.
It eventually finished 67-0 and Spalding toasted a deserved title.
Meanwhile, the under-16 match was a much tighter and fiercely competitive match. Spalding were on the back foot straight from the kick off and repelled some strong De Aston attacks.
After the first five frantic minutes, SGS started to have more possession and were soon spreading the ball out wide to the wingers. It was the left winger, Chris Emery, who broke the deadlock after showing an immense turn of speed to break the line of defence and score to the left of the posts.
A strong crosswind meant the try remained unconverted.
De Aston kicked off long and managed to pin Spalding deep into their half. A series of errors,including a yellow card for James Stuffins, allowed De Aston to get the ball – and they then powered over to score.
Spalding soon forced the opposition to knock, on allowing fly-half Ollie Johnson to capitalise on this by stepping past several players to score under the posts.
This ensured that SGS went into the break leading 12-5 and brimming full of confidence.
After the interval, Spalding received the kick-off and a strong De Aston defence kept them in their 22.
SGS strung some phases together before passing the ball wide through the centres, where the ball was unfortunately intercepted and De Aston scored under the posts to level the scores.
The remainder of the second half saw possession change hands regularly, without any major passages of play sustained.
With time ticking away, Spalding continued to push De Aston back towards their line.
They had several chances to score, but they were all squandered either by knocking the ball on at the decisive moment or being held up by last ditch De Aston defence.
However, there was to be some last-minute drama as during the last play Johnson put in a cross kick which was chased well and the ball was secured by SGS.
After some powerful forward running, Stuffins picked up the ball five metres out and crashed over to score and seal a dramatic 17-12 success.
