Leamington unable to secure a win despite some superb attacking play

20th November 2021 – Leamington v Berkswell & Balsall

This was an interesting game, where at times the opposition seemed to have the upperhand and dominated possession, with this situation interspersed with touches of brilliance from the hosts.

Leamington Fly-Half, Sam Nunn opened the scoring with an early penalty goal, however, with around twenty minutes on the clock, the visitors finally found a gap in the home defence to race in for a converted try.

Nunn and Centre, Toby Bruce then had to pull off try saving tackles to keep B&B at bay.

Two flashes of brilliant attack play from Leamington then helped regain the lead; first, Full Back, Connor Chamberlain, broke from his 22 metre area and within a blink was threatening the visitor’s defence, with Ed Gray giving support. With the visitors clearly shaken, Gareth Shuttleworth increased the pressure on them with a blistering break down the middle of the park, before neatly feeding the ball to Chamberlain to score. Nunn added the extras.

The final quarter of the half saw B&B up the pressure on Leamington and in doing so; claim two converted scores, which were to prove pivotal to the outcome of the game.

Half Time: 10 – 21

The second period saw further flashes of superb attack play from the hosts, with Centres Bruce and Harry Johnson always posing a threat and Chamberlain’s pace a constant worry to the B&B defence.

However, when the balance of play fell in favour of the visitors, they were quick to turn it into points with a converted score. With the clock now against Leamington, the final moments of the game once again turned towards them, for one final showing of what class they have in their armoury; they had been pressing the visitors line with a number of catch and drives from lineout ball and when Ed Gray secured quick ball from a similar route, albeit in his own 22, the ball passed down the back line, at pace, finally ending in the safe hands of Shuttleworth, who had plenty still in the tank, to gallop in for a spectacular team try. Nunn added the conversion for the final touch.

Full Time: 17 – 26