A win is a win, no matter how they come

1st game back after Christmas, players still carrying half a stone of Turkey, cold weather, boggy pitch, this was hardly going to be a feast of Barbarian Rugby!

Spartans traveled to Cirencester after 4 weeks off and on the back of having training cancelled prior to the game due to floodlight failure!

All things considered any win would be good enough, but did the Red Ants have to fight for it.

Playing up the slope in the 1st half, the visitors dominated possession and territory but with ball in hand they struggled to break a determined and resolute Cirencester defence. The hosts, sitting bottom of the league and desperate to kick start their season, showed a huge amount of commitment in the early exchanges, Spartans big ball carriers such as Luke Foran, Aaron Fowke and Kingsley Bembridge were met by ferocious defence.

When they did have the ball Ciren were happy to kick for territory and gained success from a few Spartans unforced errors. One such error led to a Ciren penalty which was kicked for a 3-0 lead for the hosts after 15 minutes.

Despite this Spartans continued to dominate possession but the Ciren defence held firm and the lack of an early score seemed to frustrate the visitors.

With 30 minutes played Ciren extended their lead after a kick upfield from Spartans was poorly chased and the hosts returned excellently to break up the middle and a smarty offload led to a score under the posts. A successful conversion put the hosts 10-0 up despite being under the cosh for the majority of the game and Spartans reduced the deficit to 10-3 with a long range Mark Davies Penalty just before half time.

Into the 2nd half and with the slope to their advantage, Spartans again controlled territory but the hosts never say die attitude kept them at bay which seemed to frustrate the Ants who began to force the play, leading to errors which allowed Ciren to relieve the pressure.

Ciren then began to earn more possession and the game began to ebb and flow more with both teams understanding the next score being so important. That fell to Spartans who eventually found a way through out wide as a long pass found its way to Josh Allaway who slid in at the corner. An excellent touch line conversion brought the scores level at 10-10 with 25 minutes remaining.

Both teams battled hard in gruelling conditions and eventually Spartans eventually got their noses in front when a snapshot drop goal from Davies cleared the bar by a couple of inches!

The last 10 minutes was all Ciren as Spartans errors mounted and they brought pressure onto themselves. They had to defend bravely and despite the hosts having 2 very kickable penalties to claim a draw, they chose to go for the winning try, however the Red Ants stood firm to record an important win.