Battle of the 'Spa' towns saw Leamington only a whisker away from victory with a great performance!

Leamington’s well fed and well “watered” Vice President’s were served up a cracker of a game of rugby football, at “Moorefields”, in the battle of the “Spa Towns”, in Midlands 2 West (South). At one stage in the second period, with Leamington trailing by 16 points and mysteriously missing two key players, they looked in potentially, dire straits. However, a resumption of a full complement of staff and some incredulous attack play saw them nearly snatch victory in the last minutes of this pulsating game.

Droitwich, the current league leaders, have had an interesting time in recent years, with near promotions from Midlands 2 West (South), followed by relegation two seasons ago. I was informed that their last league defeat was in fact against Leamington, in a match that condemned them to Midlands 3. With eight wins already in the bank and coming into this game following a healthy win against Kenilworth last week, the Worcester side would be not have been short of confidence.

The visitors certainly started the match in high tempo and had an early opportunity to take the lead via a penalty attempt. Fortunately for Leamington, the kick was sent off target and Patrick Northover cleared his line with a kick to touch.

With eight minutes on the clock, Leamington sent shock waves through the travelling support, when, in their first attack of note, they took the lead. Prop, Dan Barber, used pace, power and perseverance to break through a number of Droitwich attempted tackles, to punch a huge hole in the visitors defence. Tom Lane stepped in with support and when the ball was booted into the Droitwich 22 metre area, the defence failed to control the greasy ball, giving Sam Nunn the chance to pounce and score his side a vital try.

A Droitwich response was immediate, however Leamington’s defence, which has been in top form recently, held firm. Centres, Toby Bruce and Mark Baldwin, have been a prominent feature in this area; they both tackle hard and aggressively, with the intention of both halting the attack on their territory and at the same time, aiming for turnover ball. The visitors were also sending in some high kicks into the Leamington half. However, Full Back Sam Nunn led the response with a flawless display of handling, under pressure and at the same time, having to contend with a slippy surface and greasy ball.

During this period, with Leamington certainly on the back-foot, attacking opportunities were scarce. When they did arise, though, Dan Barber and Skipper Craig Smith were keen to run with the ball and put the opposition to the test.

On around the 34th minute of play, Droitwich finally got on the score sheet with a well worked converted try, following a scrum.

With the half drawing to a close, the hosts began a concerted effort to get back on to terms and had a couple of clear chances following good lineout work from Craig Smith.

Half Time: 5 – 7

The start to the second half was a testing time for Leamington, as the visitors pressed hard for additions to their score. Camped in their own 22 metre area, Leamington found it difficult to achieve any respite from a constant barrage from the Droitwich pack, who had finally come to life. A number of penalty decisions went against the hosts and when the Referee’s patience finally snapped, two yellow cards followed in quick succession.

During this time, Droitwich capitalised on the advantage and claimed two additional tries, one converted.

The last of these scores, heralded the return to play, of one of the yellow card victims and from the restart, Leamington’s Gareth Shuttleworth got in a penetrative run to put Droitwich under pressure. Leamington, who had found it difficult, in the opening stages of the second period to get out of their half, suddenly found a new energy, which caught the visitors napping. Possession was being obtained from the lineout, where Smith and Tom Lane are experts. The ball was being recycled in the pack, with John Brear and Danny Phillips linking well with the big Prop, Aled Thomas, to drive, forcefully, in the visitors defence. During one of these incursions, the ball was won on the far side flank and moved quickly across field, ending with a darting run from Toby Bruce. With the ball still retained, the Leamington pack raced to give support and when a chink of light appeared, Patrick Northover dived over for a well engineered score. Tom Jewitt nailed the conversion and suddenly, a game that seemed to have been lost, was now swinging back into the hosts favour.

Leamington continued to work hard and began to use the direct running skills of winger, Garrett Bell, to better use. This resulted in Droitwich having to set aside two or more defenders to try to halt these runs, which helped create space for the hosts to exploit. It seemed incredible that a side had been under so much pressure 20 minutes earlier, were now in full flow and putting their opposition under serious scrutiny. The Leamington pack continued to press hard and sensible use of squad rotation, had seen the impressive, Barney Lewis, replaced by Luca Illing, to continue the drive forward. This was certainly a very positive time for Leamington and justly, their endeavour, finally brought reward. Not surprisingly it was the pack that did the damage as they drove, relentlessly at the Droitwich defence. With the stuffing knocked out of them, they had no chance of stopping Aled Thomas from crashing through their line to score and earn his side a losing bonus point. Tom Jewitt added the all important conversion and whilst there was no time for any further play, the sighs of relief were palpable from the visitor’s ranks.

Full Time: 19 – 21

Next week, Leamington continue league duty with a trip to Earlsdon, kick-off 2.15pm.