Nuneaton Old Eds 19 Spartans 3

Having watched England’s demolition of the All Blacks in the morning, the Eds found themselves confronting the all-black strip of Spartans. Despite the wet conditions Eds tried to play to their usual fast and lively style only to find this very difficult with the slippery ball. They then changed the balance of their attack - launching their ball-carriers in mid-field. Spartans, with a number of players unavailable with injuries, spent much of the match defending with determination, and finished well.
With hooker George Parker’s knee injury side-lining him for the rest of the season, the Eds are fortunate to have a very capable replacement, with similar ability around the park, in John Graham. Skipper Phil King has assumed the throw-in responsibility.
The Eds’ play was becoming more fluent as half-backs Brad Darlaston and Ryan Southall combined well to maintain good continuity of play whilst varying the point of attack. This was parried by the Spartans’ defence and a counterattack culminated in a deserved 3 points from a penalty: 0-3 after fifteen minutes.
An Eds lineout led to a trademark catch-and-drive for 20 metres to within 5 metres of the visitors’ line. The Spartans’ scrum was shoved off the ball and Brad Darlaston picked up to score in the right-hand corner following up with a fine touchline conversion: 7-3 after thirty minutes. The rest of the half was largely played in Spartans territory.
The Eds began the second half at pace as Spartans’ restart was taken caught on the full by No5 Brandon Carter – charging to the Spartans’ 10-metre line. A knock-on gave a scrum to Spartans who forced an Eds’ line-out in their own 22. No 3 Dave McAdam’s charge put Eds back on the front-foot and he was involved again feeding to Southall who, in turn, put No13 Craig Jones into space on the half-way line to streak down the wing for the touchdown: 12-3 after six minutes.
From a lineout Graham, Jones, McAdam and Southall all carried into the opposition. These carries created a hole in the Spartan’s defence which was exploited by Brad Darlaston to streak through untouched to score under the posts: 19-3. The Eds had thirty minutes to seek the fourth try for the bonus point.
Southam had a good spell with their forwards going through the phases until Eds’ No6 Jason Roberts hacked a kick through. Spartans’ No10’s attempted kick was unbelievably caught at close quarters by Southall who ran 40 metres to touch down. Unfortunately, the referee was unsighted so could not award the try. Shortly after No11 Jack Grubb was adjudged to have knocked on before his touchdown as the Eds chased the elusive fourth try.
The match ended competitively with Eds in defensive mode.
The Eds are now top of the Midlands 2 West (South) League, although second-placed Malvern have a game in hand.

Final score: 19-3.
Old Eds’ Scorers:
Tries: B Darlaston (2), C Jones
Conversions: B Darlaston (2)
Old Eds First Team: G Cartwright, J Graham, D McAdam, R Singh, B Carter, J Roberts, P King, R Hatch, B Darlaston, R Southall, J Grubb, J Darlaston, C Jones, D Elkerton, J Holder
Subs: D Oldham, L Roberts, T Smith

Next Match: Barkers Butts (Away) Saturday 9/11/19 2:15pm KO
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