Spalding Rugby Club beat Old Laurentians in Counties 1 Midlands East (South)
Spalding secured a vital victory after a 25-17 home success over Old Laurentians in Saturday's Counties 1 Midlands East (South) clash at Centenary Park.
The Elephants went into the match against their Rugby-based visitors needing a victory to get some momentum back following a remarkable three draws in the previous six games.
They scored four tries through mainly their forwards and secured the bonus point late on to move them up to sixth place in the table.
Before kick-off, the players and spectators observed a minute silence for Carol Douglas, their former sports club secretary who passed away recently.
Her son, George, was part of the Spalding team and played a crucial role in their five-point victory.
As the visitors took to the field with a very young first team that was lying a couple of places below Spalding in the table, it was imperative that the Elephants made a good start.
From the kick-off, Spalding's confidence was apparent by putting the visitors under pressure with good carries by the forwards.
Captain Luke Turner led the way and Locklan Summers also stood out as the first score came from a penalty kick by Ryan Firth.
The pattern of the game settled down with Spalding having a clear advantage in the scrums and with hooker Tom Rollinson consistently finding Douglas in the lineout.
The home team had plenty of possession while Laurentians were using their speedy players out wide to get a foothold into the game.
Spalding, having encamped themselves on the visitors' try line, saw Summers force his way over for the opening try with Firth having an easy conversion in front of the posts but Lauentians immediately responded from the restart with a penalty.
Scrum half Jim Wraith was having the luxury of good ball at the breakdown and the scrums to release fly half Henry Duce for the centre pairing of Conall Mason and Firth to show their skills.
Laurentians were quick to close down space and it was the forwards of Alex Worth and Jack Patrick making an impact with prop Sam Cowell driving over the try line to put Spalding 15-3 ahead.
However, a stray pass in the backs was intercepted by Laurentians for a converted try with only a few minutes of the opening half remaining.
But, before the whistle could be blown, Spalding were back upfield bashing away as Lauentians defended their try line with Summers again driving over for his second try.
The second half saw the visitors far more in the game by using the pace of their young players to challenge Spalding's defence with full-back Harry Brett being called upon to make good defensive tackles.
The pressure was mounting and a penalty kick to touch in Spalding's 22 saw a good break and an offload to Laurentians' excellent scrum half who scored under the posts.
With a simple conversion, the visitors were just three points adrift and sniffing a comeback.
Spalding's coaches made changes with forwards Jordan Templer and Zokas Raimondas coming off the bench and they later introduced Sam Christie.
Laurentians were now in constant retreat in the scrums that brought the reward of a string of penalties being awarded.
With 10 minutes remaining, a penalty kick to touch saw Worth secure possession at the lineout and a driving maul edged towards the try line with the experienced George Brown driving over for the bonus point and easing Spalding into an eight-point advantage.
With no further scores, Spalding had claimed their second home win to move up a place in the league ahead of their next match at Peterborough Lions on Saturday, November 9.
Spalding: Sam Cowell, Tom Rollinson, Luke Turner, George Douglas, Alex Worth, George Brown, Jack Patrick, Lachlan Summers, Jim Wraith, Henry Duce, Ben Shields, Conall Mason, Ryan Firth, Gav Sharman, Harry Brett. Subs: Jordan Templer, Zokas Raimondas, Sam Christie.