Stewarts and Lloyds 39
Spalding 33
This was the clash of Stewarts and Lloyd, third in the Counties 2 Midlands East (South) league and Spalding, lying second, and what a cracking game it turned out to be, with the home team in the lead for 70 minutes of the game.
But Spalding, led by captain Luke Turner with two tries, kept coming back and although losing, came away with two valuable bonus points.
The home team showed their intent from the kick off and in the fourth minute, a driving maul from a line out went over for an unconverted try.
However with the advantage of a slopping pitch, Spalding encamped themselves in S&L’s 22 and with a couple of pick and goes by Macauley Crane and Tom Parker, a ruck was formed and scrum half Will Shields, spotting a lack of a guard defence, helped himself to a score.
Then on the 13th minute Spalding suffered a blow with S&L attacking out wide but still outside Spalding’s 22, fly half Conall Mason was judged to have deliberately knocked on and although their was cover defence, the referee awarded a penalty try with Mason taking a ten-minute break. S&L took full advantage and a cross kick by their fly half to the left winger in open space resulted in a converted try for a 13-point advantage.
Play was now end to end with both scrums fairly evenly matched and although Spalding were missing all their regular line out jumpers, Will Shields stepped up and more than held his own, disrupting a number of the home team’s lineouts.
With half time approaching, dissent within S&L’s ranks resulted in two yellow cards within quick succession. Spalding took advantage with a scrum in front of the posts from which Turner drove over for a converted try.
Moments later a quick tapped penalty, caught Spalding’s defence off guard and their left winger scored for a half time lead of 11 points.
Now with slope and home advantage the expectation was that S&L would steam ahead, but fly half Mason was kicking well for territory to keep the home team at bay.
From a line out on the home team’s 20 took, Shield won again his lineout ball, Ash Anker, as receiver, made some hard yards, releasing Miguel Da Silva into a gap in the home defence to score.
But S&L also had a good lineout drill and within a few minutes a driving maul brought its rewards, restoring an 11-point lead.
Midway through the half S&L were kicking for territory but full back Jack Patrick was ready with some excellent takes in the air under pressure and his counter attacking instinct, supported by centre Gav Sharman, were a threat.
But it was Spalding’s forwards who were making the biggest impact. Spalding pressing deep with S&L giving away a number of penalties. A tap penalty on the five-metre line saw Sam Noble force his way over for a converted try.
With ten minutes remaining there were more tries and drama to come.
An attempted counter-attack deep in their own half saw a Mason pass go astray and the home team’s centre scored and converted.
But Spalding responded pressing deep on S&L’s try line and after a succession of scrums and of pick and goes, Turner crashed over with a good Mason conversion.
Drama unfolded in the last few minutes with a Mason clearance kick being charged down and the home team scoring.
However Spalding were saved, with the referee having spotting a prior infringement and brought play back for a Spalding scrum, with Noble and one of the S&L players being yellow carded.
Finally, with 80 minutes played, the home team kicked the ball dead, to avoid an unlikely Spalding comeback, with them pressing deep in S&L’s half.
Next week Spalding have a further tricky away fixture against Melton Mowbray.
Team: Tom Parker, Andy Fuller, Luke Turner, Macauley Crane, Harry Brown, Ash Anker, Ed Williams, Sam Noble, Will Shields, Conall Mason, Harry Hudson, Miguel Da Silva, Gav Sharman, Ben Shields, Jack Patrick.
