Spartans 18, Old Leamingtonians 19

From the kick off OL’s took the game to Spartans and a series of good forward plays coupled to quick movement of the ball along the three quarter line had the home side on the defensive from the start and after 8 minutes a quick thinking blues scrum half nipped through the Spartans defence to touch down for OL’s first try. Helped by a strong wind OL’s continued to dominate play and Spartans were forced to defend for long periods, with the bigger OL’s forwards battering into the home defence, especially the visiting number eight who had an outstanding game. Spartans could hardly get into the game for the first quarter but resolute defence and good discipline forced spilled passes that prevented OL’s from adding to the score on a number of occasions. Spartans got into the game during the latter part of the first half and good support play saw a well taken try to reduce the arrears, but soon afterwards a misunderstanding saw an interception pass collected by a speedy OL’s back who gratefully accepted his invitation to score, and half time was reached with OL’s leading 12 points to 5.

The second half saw Spartans use the breeze but it was OL’s that continued to dominate up front, with an excellent back row that returned them into Spartan territory. Things got worse for the Men in Black as injuries began to take their toll. However, hard work and commitment from the home side saw verbal indiscipline leading to a Spartans penalty which Tom Hardy placed perfectly into touch off the corner post, and the line out saw a good catch and drive to bring a try for Michael Bennett. Within minutes more pressure saw OL’s heads drop, and home scrum half Andy Harrison crossed the line for another unconverted try to put Spartans into the lead at 15 points to twelve. With Tom Hardy banging over a penalty Spartans sniffed a chance of a surprise, but OL’s came right back into the game and time and time again looked to be in a scoring position but just failed to cross the line. With the last play of the game OL’s fly half got a good ball from the blue forwards broke through the Spartans defence to score between the posts. The conversion was secured and OL’s went into a one point lead before the match official blew for time, leaving Spartans with another hard earned bonus point.