Spalding RFC 10
Matlock 38
Spalding RFC’s winless start to the Midlands Two East (North) season continued on Saturday as mid-table Matlock picked up a relatively comfortable 38-10 victory at the Memorial Field.
Despite tries from Jordan Templer and Gav Sharman, it’s now five defeats from five for Town – who are two points adrift at the bottom of the table.
The opening minutes saw both teams settling into the game, with scrums even and defences on top. But, after just eight minutes, Spalding’s Luke Turner sustained a shoulder injury – meaning Josh Caley came off the bench and into the front row, forcing Sam Cowell to play as flanker and captain Tom Duerden to move to lock.
Matlock seized their opportunity, with their back row making more impact at the rucks and at first receiver, gaining territory deep into Town’s half.
With Spalding’s defence being dragged in, Matlock spread the ball out wide and their left winger went over for the opening try in one corner. That was followed shortly by the right winger doing similar in the other corner and a 10-0 lead had been opened up.
Six minutes later the visitors’ lead increased to 17 points as the left winger again found gaps in Spalding’s cover defence with a converted try.
In typical fashion, Spalding responded with scrum-half Will Shields battling at every breakdown and Duerden and and Ash Piccaver prominent with their robust carries and good lineout work.
Having worked their way deep within five metres of Matlock’s try line, Templer drove over the line for the Elephants’ first score of the afternoon. Adam McHugh’s conversion went just the wrong side of the posts, reducing the half time lead to 17-5.
At the start of the second half some big tackles were going in as both teams looked to get the upper hand. To calm matters down the referee issued yellow cards to Piccaver and Matlock’s lock.
Meanwhile, Town coach George Reid was forced to fully use his bench as injuries and knocks were taking their toll on the hosts.
The visitors then sealed victory with a 20-minute spell of domination and three converted tries. Matlock’s hooker, who was excellent in the loose, weaved his way through, beating several poor defensive tackles, to go under the post.
The fly-half was next over the line, followed ten minutes later by their centre.
With the many changes in the forwards, it was clear that Spalding were off the pace – despite openside flanker Harry Waine’s putting in a good shift and Duerden always causing problems.
Spalding’s desperation and inexperience was illustrated by some very poor attempts at clearance kicks.
However, Gav Sharman did light up the afternoon and raised Spalding’s spirits with the best try of the match in the final minute.
On one of the few occasions that the home team were able to spread the ball out wide, Sharman beat his opposite number with an electric burst of pace and raced for the corner from 30 metres out.
Matlock’s full-back put in a last ditch covering tackle, but Sharman’s momentum and dive for the line, saw him over with inches to spare.
One other positive was the performance of young gun George Douglas at full-back. His defensive responsibilities and counter-attacking was a joy to see, showing great speed, fine kicking from hand and excellent retrieval catches.
Sadly, Town failed to make a similar impact in attack and Matlock ended up being pretty comfortable winners.
Spalding RFC: John Barrett, Sam Cowell, Gareth Osborne, Ash Piccaver, Luke Turner, Jordan Templer, Harry Waine, Tom Duerden, Will Shields, Harry Winch, Kieran Lake, Adam McHugh, George Brown, Gav Sharman, George Douglas. Subs: Josh Caley, Tom Winch and Rob Lucas.
