Spa have resilience but lack direction

The one-sided scoreline does little justice to Spa, who produced a committed display against Midland One West’s third-placed side.

After struggling to interpret vague instructions to both the changing facilities and the pitch at the University of Birmingham, Spa had just ten minutes to warm up and it was no surprise they fell behind to an early converted try.

The visitors hit back and full-back Adam Preece was first to shine with a trademark run. Then fly-half Simon Dudley and centre Gordon Jackson hit them with a clever interchange, resulting in the latter punching a hole in the Bournville defence.

Bournville increased their lead with a penalty, but Spa were soon at their heels again with Alex Carroll and Dudley combining cleverly to add pressure.

Keiran Martin then gathered the ball from a lineout and Dudley put Carroll in space for a darting run up the far wing. As the pressure increased, Spa capitalised with a penalty goal from Patrick Northover.

Bournville hit Spa with some forceful running and dynamic play from their fly-half and full-back, but this was met with some resilient defence, with Lewis Kelsey, Martin and number eight Mark Roden working tirelessly in the loose.

Their hard work was rewarded with another penalty from Northover to close the deficit to 13-6 at the interval.

Bournville responded with two well-worked converted tries shortly after the restart.

Leamington were forced to defend deeper than they had done in the first stanza and, after further sustained pressure, the home side finally broke through the stubborn defence for their bonus-point try.

Spa heads did not drop and a quickly taken penalty from Northover near the Bournville line fed Dudley. The fly-half drew the defence and then sent a pass out to Barry Gordon who raced in under the posts. Northover added the extras.

Although Bournville had the final say with their fifth try, Spa finished the game on the front foot, with a fine run up the far side of the pitch which Bournville were happy to guide into touch.