Match report: Spading Rugby Club beat Stamford in Counties 1 Midlands East (South)

Spalding toppled newly-crowned Counties One Midlands East (South) champions Stamford with a dominant display on Saturday.

The Elephants never looked back after opening the scoring in the fifth minute before going on to secure a try bonus point win in a 36-17 success.

Stamford arrived at Centenary Park with a 19-point lead at the top having been crowned champions with three games remaining.

However, this was a local derby against a Spalding side who beat third-placed Towcestrians last weekend despite playing the majority of the game with only 14 players.

Retaining the same team from last week, apart from Gav Sharman replacing the suspended Ben Shields, Spalding started brightly with the cohesion in their forward play.

They gained territory and possession by putting Stamford on the back foot and a penalty kick from Conall Mason established an early lead.

On the restart, George Douglas secured the high ball and punched a hole in Stamford's defence with Lachlan Summers and Luke Turner making big carries.

With the try line beckoning, the ruck was secured by Tom Rollinson and scrum half Jim Wraith nipped through a defensive gap to score just wide of the posts and, with a simple conversion, Spalding were up by 10 points after nine minutes.

Stamford were finding it difficult to penetrate Spalding's well organised defence in response and again the home forwards in open play were making territory.

A thrust down the right by centre Jack Patrick and winger Sam Christie saw Spalding were near the try line.

Quick ball out to fly half Willis Ingleby and his pass to centre Mason created a wide open gap in Stamford’s defence to score under the posts and, with the conversion, Spalding's lead was 17 points after 16 minutes.

From a penalty conceded by Spalding, Stamford kicked for touch and, with the line-out ball secured, the visitors drove their well organised maul over the try line.

The remaining 15 minutes of the first half saw both teams challenging each other up and down the pitch with both defensives coming out on top.

The start of the second half saw the visitors looking to establish some dominance to get back into the game.

It did not take them long to gain a reward as they sucked in Spalding's defence to allow their outside centre to glide through a big gap to score under the post and, with the conversion, Stamford were back in the game just five points adrift.

However, midway through the second half, Spalding made the match winning scores.

A long distance clearance kick by Ingleby gained field position as Christie and Henry Duce chased down stopping any counter attack, gaining possession and hooker Tom Rollinson was on hand to break through a couple of tackles, cutting back inside to score by the posts for a converted try.

Five minutes later, outside centre Jack Patrick lit up the afternoon by cutting through several tackles at pace and side-stepping the last defender to score near the posts to secure the try bonus for a 19-point lead.

The subs bench was used with Harry Brett, who had again played well especially in the lineout alongside Douglas, being replaced by Dom Broadhead, Will Shields came on for Douglas with Ryan Firth taking the place of Henry Duce.

Stamford again came back 10 minutes later from a lineout and driving maul to score their third try out wide by the left corner flag.

But, with time nearly up, Ingleby kicked for the corner from a penalty and Douglas - back on the field - won line-out possession.

The driving maul stalled but Jack Grundy managed to dive over the try line for the final score.

It capped a cracking game of rugby which was extremely well refereed by the official, especially with it being a local derby.

There was also success for Spalding's second team after they won a close contest 24-21 against their Stamford counterparts as the purple, black and whites left Centenary Park with their tails between their legs.

Spalding: Tom Parker, Tom Rollinson, Luke Turner, Harry Brett, George Douglas, Henry Hobson, Lachlan Summers, Jack Grundy, Jim Wraith, Willis Ingleby, Sam Christie, Conall Mason, Jack Patrick, Gav Sharman, Henry Duce. Subs: Ryan Firth, Will Shields, Dominic Broadhead.