Rugby Union
Spa triumph in thrilling cup tie

Leamington 18 Newbold 17

LEAMINGTON made full use of home advantage to edge out Newbold and reach the Warwickshire Cup semi-finals.

The weather also played an important part as a strong wind blew down the pitch with Newbold having the initial benefit.

The visitors made good use of the elements to pen Spa inside their own half for much of the first period.

Newbold missed two penalty attempts before opening the scoring with a try in the corner on the half hour.

Spa full back Nathan Earland put in a superb tackle to avert a clear scoring opportunity, however the defence were unable to clear the ball and Newbold managed to sneak over.

Six minutes before the interval. Newbold increased their lead with a converted score.

At this stage, all Spa had been able to muster was a break by skipper Alex Carroll that was swiftly moved up field with the help of Ben Ashmore’s strong run.

Then prop Danny Phillips fielded a clearance kick from Newbold and produced a superb dummy pass to set himself up for a strong run that the visiting defence contained.

Leamington got back into the game early in the second half as Carroll sent out a huge kick from defence, which was backed up by the tireless ‘Patch’ Northover.

He harried the opposition and helped secure possession which was delivered along the back line to John Raby who cut inside and raced over.

Newbold responded by capitalising on a break down in Spa’s play to score an unconverted try.

Spa got themselves back in contention as Northover slotted over a penalty.

Kelsey claimed the ball straight from the restart and released Tom Daplyn on a mesmeric run up field. Carroll was on hand to take the young centre’s pass and he quickly fed Earland, enabling the full back to charge over.

Northover added the extras to bring Spa to within one point of the visitors.

Newbold continued to press and Adam Preece made a try-saving tackle to keep Spa’s hopes alive.

As the game entered the final quarter Spa won a penalty and Northover produced a majestic strike which sailed through the middle of the posts to settle a pulsating contest.

Spa resume Midlands Two West (South) duty with a home game against Upton-on-Severn this Saturday (2.15pm).