Leamington 24 Earlsdon 20

Warwickshire Shield – Leamington v Earlsdon

A pristine looking “Moorefields”, basking in early autumn sunshine, witnessed an excellent game of rugby football and saw Leamington overcome a difficult end to the second half, to gain victory over last year’s Warwickshire Shield Cup winners, Earlsdon.

In a high tempo start to the match, Leamington had the edge in attack, with winger Joe Richardson testing the Earlsdon defence with a strong run, following good work from prop, Dan Barber.

Earlsdon then fell foul of the Referee, conceding two yellow cards in quick succession. The latter allowed Leamington to open the scoring with a penalty goal, courtesy of the boot of James Dunne.

The visitors then went further behind when a promising attack of theirs was abruptly halted by the superb interception of fleet-footed winger, Callum Merritt, who raced into score. Dunne then secured maximum return with the conversion.

Leamington were playing some very neat and controlled rugby at this stage and another chance fell their way when Merritt set Patrick Northover away on the right flank, however the Earlsdon defence were quick to react to the danger and forced the ball into touch.

With some 30 minutes on the clock, Earlsdon caught Leamington flat-footed in defence and following a break up the far side wing, they forced a converted score, to bring them firmly back into contention.

Half Time: 10 – 7

At the restart, Leamington’s Luca Illing, took clean ball and set up a quick-fire attack, which culminated in another strong run from Merritt. However, Earlsdon were also in a positive mode and soon after, took the lead from an unconverted try.

The excellent playing surface was giving both sides the chance to play open, running rugby, which ensured good entertainment for the spectators. Leamington regained the lead with another piece of intelligent play, following a scrum. With possession gained, Northover flashed the ball out to his left side, to winger Merritt, who the cut around his opposite number and raced in for another excellent score. Dunne then continued his own fine performance by adding the conversion.

Despite having the advantage, Leamington came under some concerted pressure from the visitors. One of these attacks seemed to have been stymied by the clearance kick from Dunne. The kick out was quickly snaffled up by Earlsdon and their attack proved too hot for Leamington, who were forced into conceding a try.

With a third of the half played and the scores now level, Leamington created another superb opening that nearly brought reward. Skipper, Kelsey, set the scene with a break up field, at pace. Gareth Shuttleworth was in support and his run was finally halted deep in the Earlsdon danger zone.

The game then swung in the visitors favour as they went ahead from a penalty.

Despite this setback Leamington continued in a confident manner and their scrum, which had performed well throughout the afternoon, came up with the goods that would finally put the game to bed. Earlsdon had possession at the set-piece, however, Leamington put the squeeze on and forced a rushed pass outside, which Merritt once again latched on to, to intercept and race over. Dunne once again played his part and capped an overall fine performance, with the conversion.

Leamington’s four point lead had to withstand an onslaught from the Earlsdon attack, as the game entered its conclusion. The home side lost two players, to yellow cards; within seconds of each other and spent the final minutes camped on their try line. However, despite the Coventry outfits best efforts, Leamington held out and when they were finally awarded a penalty, Dunne was on hand to kick to touch and bring on the final whistle.

Full Time: 24 -20

Next week, Leamington begin their league campaign at home to Silhillians, kick-off 3.00pm.