Leamington leave their fightback too late

Leamington’s hopes of a top-four finish in Midlands Two West (South) suffered a setback when they were beaten by their mid-table rivals.

The first half was a test of both teams’ defensive capabilities with plenty of quality tackling on display.

Droitwich certainly had the edge on territory, but scoring opportunities were few and far between for both sides, with Spa’s clearest opportunity coming when Alex Sharman and Danny Ruyssevelt linked at pace and almost broke through the cover defence.

A solitary penalty kick from Droitwich gave the visitors a slender three-point half-time advantage and they continued to starve Leamington of any meaningful possession after the break.

Tom Daplyn and Adam Preece made several strong runs through the midfield and Alex Carroll sent Sharman off on a surge, but these were snuffed out by Droitwich’s resolute defence.

The visitors then increased their lead with a try in the far corner following a quickly taken penalty and minutes later increased the hurt on Spa as they broke through the middle and scored under the posts.

The second try was easily converted to put Droitwich 15-0 up.

As the game entered the final quarter, Spa finally exploited a chink in the Droitwich defence.

Craig Smith claimed good ball in the lineout and allowed Sam Nunn to get clean possession to the backline. Alex Carroll threw out a long pass which created the space for Simon Mallard to pick up and score in the corner.

However, despite Spa now beginning to exude confidence, the clock was against them.

But, in a fashion that typified the quality in the side, they did have time for one final score.

Carroll sent Preece on a run and, with a defender ready to pounce, he dummied an offload before swallow-diving under the posts. Nunn calmly slotted the conversion.