Spalding Rugby Club are defeated by Stockwood Park
Extremely windy conditions at Centenary Park on Saturday saw visiting Stockwood Park adapt far better as they ran out 5-12 winners against Spalding.
The Elephants had the consolation of a losing bonus point in the Counties 1 Midlands East (South) clash where Spalding were unable to take advantage of having the elements in their favour in the second half.
Gusts of up to 50mph caused by Storm Darragh made it extremely challenging for both sets of players who had to adapt their game plans to the howling gale.
Stockwood kicked off with the wind advantage and soon had Spalding under pressure as they camped inside the home 22 and it was backs to the wall for the Elephants' defence from the start.
Having quickly adapted their game with short passes from the breakdown with either their forwards or the centre pairing driving forward, Stockwood opened up Spalding's defence to touch down for an unconverted try.
Shortly afterwards, a near repeat of their opening try followed but, as the Stockwood player dived over the line under pressure from Spalding's defence, control of the ball was lost.
Steadily Spalding eased themselves into the game with carries from Jack Grundy, Luke Turner and Will Shields.
With a position gained inside Stockwood's 22 and ruck ball secured, scrum half Jim Wraith passed out to fly half Willis Ingleby.
With Stockwood’s defence advancing, he slotted a grubber kick through for Conall Mason to beat the covering defence to score.
Lock Jordan Templer was then replaced by Yogi Schrauwers.
The slippery conditions meant scrums were difficult with feet failing to grip on the surface while line-outs were particularly challenging in the wind.
Just before half-time, Stockwood again had Spalding pinned deep back in their 22 and forced a try under the posts to take a seven point lead.
Stockwood had good ball carriers in their pack and were also not afraid to kick for territory but, in the last minutes of the first half, it was Spalding who took the game to the visitors.
From a ruck close to the try line, the ball was worked along the backs with right wing Ben Shields diving over but he knocked on while attempting to score.
Turning around and with the wind on their backs, it should have been the turn of Spalding to pin the visitors deep into their 22 and challenge them to exit.
With kicks failing to gain any distance against the wind, Stockwood played a simple game of keeping the ball tight in the forwards, retaining procession and using either strong running forwards to gain territory or the centres close to the forwards to bash up.
The wingers on both sides hardly touched the ball the whole afternoon.
Spalding were struggling to get into the game as their scrum seemed to weaken as the game progressed while retaining possession at lineouts became more challenging as the wind strengthened.
Conversely Stockwood became the dominant force with Spalding rarely threatening to enter the visitors' 22, therefore never challenging the try line.
There was no score in the second half and Spalding's disappointing performance after the break cost them a win against a side lying in the bottom half of the league.
Attention now turns to a big local derby on Saturday when Spalding host a Bourne side who defeated table-topping Stamford at the weekend. Kick-off at Centenary Park is 2.15pm.
Spalding: Tomas Parker, Sam Cowell, Luke Turner, George Douglas, Jordan Templer, Harry Brett, Will Shields, Jack Grundy, Jim Wraith, Willis Ingleby, Ben Shields, Conall Mason, Ryan Firth, Gav Sharman, Henry Duce. Subs: Yogi Schrauwers, Sam Christie, Adam Sutcliffe.
