Spalding Rugby Club beat Stockwood Park

Spalding edged a cracking contest with Stockwood Park in Saturday's Counties 1 Midlands East (South) clash.

The Elephants were 28-27 winners over the Luton-based side at Centenary Park to move up into fifth place in the table.

The visitors arrived looking for their first away win of the season while Spalding were fielding a strong-looking team aiming for a home victory.

Lock Fergus McKerracher was making his debut for Spalding and there was also a welcome return to Ash Anker, who had been sidelined for a couple of weeks.

Both teams started well, being quick to the breakdown in support of the ball carrier with McKerracher immediately prominent.

Fly half Willis Ingleby spotted gaps behind the visitors' defensive line and a good kick saw Taylor Crowson collect the ball and go over the try line and, with a conversion by Conall Mason, Spalding had an early lead after five minutes.

Stockwood, through their forwards, pressured the home team in their 22 - and a penalty for a high tackle by Miguel Da Silva resulted in good forward play by the visitors to score under the posts and, with a simple conversion, it was level pegging after 12 minutes.

Three minutes later, Spalding regained the lead, gaining territory with George Douglas and Jack Grundy prominent, and prop Sam Cowell finished off for the hosts' second try. With a good conversion by Mason, a seven-point margin had been restored.

Stockwood used a penalty at the breakdown to kick for touch and, with good line-out possession, had Spalding on the back foot calling on good home defence.

Will Shields won a turnover ball but, as Spalding moved it forward, there was a crossing in front of the ball carrier and Stockwood converted the penalty kick.

Spalding were taking the game to the visitors and a penalty kick to touch saw Douglas win a lineout.

The forwards drove and set up a ruck near the try line but Luke Turner, on the charge with the try line waiting to be crossed, unfortunately knocked on losing possession.

With half-time approaching, the visitors were searching for a score with Spalding defending their try line.

At a ruck, scrum half Jim Wraith won a turnover but came from an offside position and, from the scrum penalty, the visitors' forwards went over and, with a good conversion, Stockwood went into half-time with a three-point lead.

The early play in the second half was a mirror of the first, with Spalding on top - and a good backs move put Crowson in space out wide on the left to score in the corner and, with a superb conversion by Mason, the Elephants had restored their lead.

However, giving kickable penalties away saw Stockwood reduce Spalding's lead to a solitary point with 30 minutes remaining.

Spalding now took the opportunity to use their bench with Gav Sharman and Reece Callaby coming on and a few minutes later Douglas was replaced due to a head injury.

Spalding had momentum turning defence into attack as they launched a counter-attack through their backs as Crowson and Ben Shields showed their pace.

But it was full-back Jack Patrick, slicing past several defenders after good interplay, who scored near the posts and, with Mason converting, Spalding had a vital eight point lead with eight minutes remaining.

Ryan Firth came off the bench and Spalding had a simple target to kick deep and play in Stockwood’s half of the pitch.

They nearly succeeded but the visitors would not lie down and, with the final play of the game, they scored under the posts to claim their losing bonus point in a narrow reversal.

Spalding had also claimed a bonus point with four tries scored plus the vital win stands them in good stead for their trip to table-topping Market Bosworth on Saturday.

The victory capped a winning weekend for the club as the second team beat their Bourne counterparts by two points on Saturday while the Colts had defeated Boston on Friday night.

Spalding: Sam Cowell, Ash Anker, Luke Turner, George Douglas, Fergus McKerracher, Miguel Da Silva, Will Shields, Jack Grundy, Jim Wraith, Willis Ingleby, Adam Sutcliffe, Conall Mason, Taylor Crowson, Ben Shields, Jack Patrick. Subs: Reece Callaby, Gav Sharman, Ryan Firth.