Bugbrooke 34 Spalding 7
Spalding travelled over to Bugbrooke (Northampton) in their last match before Christmas looking to build on their excellent performance at home against Bourne.
However there were some changes to the team with a youthful back line seeing two Colts, Sam Christie and Henry Duce, starting, Harry Brett moved from full back to lock and coach Phil Trotman put his boots back on, playing in the back row.
On the subs’ bench there was a welcome return for forward Ash Piccaver.
With the benefit of a good wind blowing mainly down the pitch, Spalding kicked off and had the home side on the back foot.
Within the first five minutes three penalties/scrums had been awarded to Spalding enabling them to build early pressure. Full back Duce, joining the line made, a good break only to be denied five metres out by defensive tackles.
For the next ten minutes the game was exclusively played in the home team’s half of the pitch and a drive by Spalding’s forwards was held up over the line.
Bugbrooke’s response was to use their backs, orchestrated by their fly half Adam Sellers, to gain territory and whilst attempting a tackle Lachlan Summers received a yellow card.
This handed the home team a scrum advantage and the ball was spread wide for the left winger to score and with a good conversion, suddenly from nowhere Bugbrooke had the lead.
From a good restart kick by Willis Ingleby and a chase down by Christie, Spalding had scrum advantage ten metres from the try line but a relieving kick by Bugbrooke saw Christie and Duce make a break creating a two-on-one.
A clear scoring opportunity was denied to Spalding as the Bugbrooke defender deliberately knocked on but the referee only awarded a Spalding scrum instead of a penalty try to the utter amazement of the visiting players.
Spalding drew level with some sharp running by the backs creating space for Callum Lewis on the right wing.
With several defenders still to beat he cut back inside to level the score with Conall Mason converting.
Douglas, struggling with a foot injury, was replaced by Piccaver.
Following some thrusting bursts and carries by the forwards, with Rollison and Summers making territory, Sam Cowell was held up over the try line but Bugbrooke were also making territory with their backs.
Spalding needing to defend inside their 22, conceded a penalty, and captain Turner received a yellow card for communicating with the referee.
Having superiority in the scrums, Bugbrooke took full advantage of Spalding being short on numbers and their backs ran in two tries leading up to half time to leave Spalding trialling 17-7.
Having played 75 per cent of the first half in Bugbrooke’s half but unbelievably being ten points down at half time the writing was on the wall for Spalding.
The home side were not afraid to use towering kicks to gain territory and at the same time causing the Spalding defenders problems when attempting to catch the ball.
Likewise penalties were kicked deep for a line-out creating mounting pressure on Spalding’s try line.
As a result, the home team ran in three second half tries for a disappointing outcome for Spalding.
Team: Tomas Parker, Tom Rollinson, Luke Turner, George Douglas, Harry Brett, Phil Trotman, Lachlan Summers, Sam Cowell, Ben Shields, Willis Ingleby, Sam Christie, Conall Mason, Ryan Firth, Callum Lewis, Henry Duce. Subs: Miguel Da Silva, Ash Piccaver.
Pictures by Adrian Smith.
