Spartans Stags 20 Bournville 3s 5

The Stags converted a comfortable victory against their visitors from Bournville, after dominating a decisive first period of play.

With Bournville arriving early at Coppice Lane, undergoing an extensive pre-match warm up, and having a plentiful supply of travelling reserves, Spartans knew that they would be in for a strongly competitive contest.

Positive leadership would be required, and captain Norton and forwards’ enforcer Thompson rallied the home side to put sustained pressure on the Bournville line for large parts of the first half. Spartans got the upper hand in the tight early doors, and the backs cut incisive and intelligent lines against a powerfully built Bournville three quarters unit.

After early deadlock, Phillips started the scoring, to be following by further touchdowns from Haig and Howell. The dominance of the Stags’ in the first half fell well short on the scoreboard, with a sequence of handling errors, or late Bournville intervention, preventing scores on or around the try line.

With a 15-0 lead, and playing the 2nd half down the slope it was crucial that Spartans kept up their momentum.

However they were hampered by a number of factors as Bournville began to play their way back in to the game. Spartans lost talisman Norton to a blood injury, a harsh looking yellow card incident for Else followed Howell’s 10 minute sin-binning at the end of the first half, and endless yardage was lost after the referee called repeat infringements against the hosts.

Despite this, Bench extended the Spartans lead, and with a final late surge from Bournville in the final quarter they breached the home side line for an unconverted score.

Late, but timely strong Spartans defensive work, ensured that the game closed out with a final 20-5 scoreline.”