Spalding RFC 17
Nottingham Casuals 34
Spalding RFC’s relegation from Midlands Two East (North) was all but confirmed on Saturday – but they again showed signs of improvement.
Town went down 34-17 at the Memorial Field against a Casuals side that are directly above them in the table – meaning they have lost 17 of their 18 games and are now 26 points from safety with four matches left.
Building on last week’s encouraging performance, The Elephants had control of the game for long periods, with their forwards prominent, but they were undone by Casuals’ scrum-half and fly-half engineering room for their backs to run in five tries.
Spalding started brightly, with the scrum again going well as Mikey Watts, Josh Caley and Luke Turner, in the front row, dominated their opposite numbers.
Casuals were trapped within their 22, battling against thrusting forward play with pick and goes.
Indeed, a blind side move saw Town’s Kieran Bailey supporting to go over for the first try after six minutes.
The home team’s domination continued, with scrum-half Richard Cooke always prepared to take the opposition on around the fringes. And, with the forwards effectively clearing out at the rucks, it finally looked like Spalding had developed a winning formula.
But, much like the previous week, a ten-minute spell from the visitors rocked Town with three tries conceded, as their fly-half found plenty of space to orchestrate moves for his backs, alternating between moving the ball out wide to his wingers or back inside for crash ball moves.
Spalding responded well to this setback, again mainly through the forwards, with Ash Piccaver dominant and Tom Duerden controlling the ball from scrums and it looked like the forwards had gone over for a try, but unfortunately the referee was unsighted and went back for a scrum to Spalding.
However, just before half time the ball went out wide to Ben Shields – making his debut on the right wing – and an offload saw Jason Steels supporting to go over for an unconverted try. That made the half-time score 19-10 in favour of Casuals, with Town very much in the game.
The clash became far more open in the second half, but Spalding still had the upper hand with first phase play. Mark Haighton dominated the lineout and was well-supported by Bailey, while the scrum was still going in their favour.
Will Shields, at fly-half, found room to release George Brown, whose pace and determination took him deep into the oppositions half and he found Brian Browne on the left wing with a delightful pass.
A Casuals tackle came in, but it was high, and with Browne only a couple of metres short of the line the referee awarded a penalty try. Watts converted to ensure there was just a two-point difference.
Another burst down the left wing looked to have brought another try for Spalding and the lead, but was ruled out with a foot in touch on the side line
However, with the game finely balanced it was the visitors who stole the result with two late tries. Their crash ball moves burst through defensive gaps with Spalding’s defence tiring.
Although this was another defeat and relegation is now almost a certainty, this display by Town was full of determination and some excellent phases of play.
With three tries scored and a further two efforts ruled out there are encouraging signs for the future.
Spalding are next in action at Southwell on March 25.
Spalding RFC: Mikey Watts, Josh Caley, Luke Turner, Mark Haighton, Kev Hudson, Kieran Bailey, Ash Piccaver, Tom Duerden (captain), Richard Cooke, Will Shields, Brian Browne, Jason Steels, George Brown, George Douglas. Subs: Jacob Hutson, Harry Cole, Jacon Greaves.
