Old Leams 2's 29 v 41 Spartans 2's

From the kick off it was Spartans who made the brightest start, flanker Spencer Kite making the first hit on his opposite number and disrupting the ball. As a result scrum half Harrison found half back partner Madden in space who drew the defender and fed centre Jamie Humpage who burst through the gap, only to be stopped short by the OL’s full back with a great tackle. The defender was guilty of not rolling away though and Madden narrowly missed his first shot at goal from out wide. The OL’s winger somehow managed to miss-kick the ball from within his own try area which was then knocked on by the Spartan’s pack, this led to the first opportunity for the Spartan’s scrum which has been so powerful in recent weeks.

As anticipated the Spartans pack applied huge pressure at the scrum, forcing the clearing kick to be sliced into touch. There was no surprise on the play at the lineout, a textbook catch and drive steered by second row Dan Wayne ultimately leading to Chris Bench crashing over the line for the opening score.

It was Old Lems that took the next score with a very similar catch and drive, demonstrating that Spartans would have to battle for every point in this table topping clash.

At 5-5 the game was becoming a very physical battle with Ryan Devine and Spencer Kite leading the way with big hits and sterling work at the breakdown, once again earning Spartans a penalty in the midfield. This time skipper Ben Dochery pointing to the corner of the park to get his pack rumbling again.

The kick was good and the Spartans pack, with Timmy Tango bossing the lineout, set again for another excellent drive only for the OL’s defence to hold strong a yard from the line. Harrison saw the opportunity to spin the ball wide to Spears who found Garbutt in space, it was a simple two on one then which was well executed to put Dochery in under the posts for a converted score, 12-5.

The remainder of the half was probably dominated by the home team with the talented outside centre crashing through for a close range score plus a penalty from the experienced fly-half leaving the score 15-12 to OL’s with everything to play for.

The second half started at a rapid pace, Spartans were clearly fired up as the physicality stepped up a notch, Spencer Kite again leading with the biggest hit of the day on the home side’s pacey winger. Good field position for Spartans gave the half back pairing of Harrison and Madden chance to start using the ball and continued pressure eventually told as substitue Dale Jones' powerful carry freed up space for Dan Wayne to burst on to a Harrison pass to sprint in from 30m for a superb score out wide – 17-15.

Not more than 5 minutes later it was young flier Garbett’s turn, fast turnover in the midfield led to exquisite handling from the backs until Garbett was released into space by Humpage, he turned on the afterburners and left the home side defence for dead to score a blinding try in the corner. The wide conversion was good and Spartans led 24-15.

Spartans were starting to enjoy their rugby now, Joe Lucas and Luke Spears in particular were enjoying the space out wide created from the solid ball carrying of Bench, Wayne and Rostron. A flurry of penalties gave Spartans further field position and before long they were camped on the OL’s 5m line with a scrum. The resulting pick and go from Matthieu Gassey (who had joined the action at half time) gave Harrison chance to pick and dart over the line for what looked like a try only for the referee to wave play on – fortunately Rostron’s quick thinking saw him pick up and dive over the final 6 inches for Spartan’s fifth try of the game, 31-15.

Once again it was OL’s that came back with a try against the run of play, reminding the men in black that they would need to focus for every last second to see the game out as their pacey outside centre flew down the near touchline for a length of the pitch score. The home side had threatened this in the previous minutes, fortunately Garbett was on hand first time round to pop up with a sublime cross field kick into space. The veteran fly half slotted a superb touchline conversion to make the score 31-22.

From the restart it was Tim Tango who leapt like a salmon to steal the ball, a bit of fumbling around ensued before the referee finally awarded the black scrum. Knowing how secure the platform was Harrison called a set play between 9-10-12 which worked like a charm. Harrison picked and drew the oncoming backrow before putting Madden through the gap, a dummy inside to supporting winger Hughes and a pass outside to Spears saw Spartan’s run in their 6th and final try in superb style, this left the score at 38-22 with ten minutes to play.

The home side, spurred on by pride and determination to stay at the top of the league, came back again with another try from a rolling maul, again converted by the ten.

This made for a nervy final few minutes for Spartans as they held on to a ten point lead before a turnover in the middle of the park gave Madden chance to slot the long range penalty and put the game to bed, rounding off a superb away win for the twos against a very good Old Leamingtonians side, final score 41-29.

Man of the match could have easily been Andy Harrison, Chris Bench or Ryan Devine but it was Dan Wayne who was awarded it after a superb performance in the second row.

Tries;
Bench
Dochery
Wayne
Garbett
Rostron
Spears

Cons;
Madden x 4

Pens;
Madden

Spartans Squad:-
1. Ryan Devine
2. Sam Burke
3. Chris Bench
4. Dan Wayne
5. Harry Owen
6. Spencer Kite
7. Luke Rostron
8. Tim Bathram
9. Andy Harrison
10. Joe Madden
11. Ben Dochery
12. Luke Spears
13. Jamie Humpage
14. Joe Lucas
15. Brett Garbett

16. Dale Jones
17. Matthiau Gassey
18. Jack Hughes
19. Daryl Williams