Leamington head to the top of the league

On a delightful autumnal afternoon, The Crofts, home to Old Leamingtonians RFC, hosted one of the highlight games of the season, as local rivals, Leamington, hopped across the field, for game two in Counties 1, Midlands West (South).

In a fiercely contested match, Leamington won by 27 points to 14, taking the all-important bonus point in the process and claim top spot in the league.

Old Leamingtonians had the advantage of a light breeze in the first period and with the benefit of a superb playing surface, both sides were keen to play open and exciting rugby football, in front of their massed supporters.

In a frenetic opening, Leamington missed a penalty goal opportunity, before taking the lead with some smart attack play. Scrum-half. "Patch" Northover, made the best of poor ball from a set-piece and quickly moved it to his right, into the hands of Danny Ruyssevelt. Ed Gray and Full Back, Logan Deeley, then carried the ball forward, at pace, with the latter, mesmerising the home defence with some neat footwork. When halted, Deeley fed the ball back out to Ruyssevelt, who had supported play, allowing the No8, to crash over for the opening score.

The home side provided a very quick and positive response by attacking up their nearside flank, catching Leamington's defence cold. Deeley almost saved the situation, with a fine tackle, however, such was the hosts support play, another attacker was on hand to gather the pass and sprint through to score. The conversion gave the Old Leamingtonians the lead, 7 points to 5.

The game was evenly balanced at this midway point in the half, with Leamington's scrum working well, enjoying the return of Second Row, John Brear and once again having the benefit of a solid Front Row, in Heera Johal, Ben Edwards and Matt Humphreys. The hosts were also enjoying good passages of play and one smart attack, up the far side wing, needed a try saving tackle from Leamington winger, Sam Russell, to prevent the scoreboard moving on.

Leamington were able to regain the lead with some quick thinking and movement, following a penalty in their favour, around the half way mark. In a flash the ball was moved to the wing and into the hands of "flyer", Conor Chamberlain, who sprinted up the flank, in front of the home crowd, outsmarted the OL's defenders and raced over between the posts. Rich McKowen then added the conversion.

Another penalty was the catalyst for Leamington's third try and from the resulting scrum, Ruyssevelt and Ed Gray combined, for the latter to burst through the home defence for an unconverted score.

Half Time: 7 - 17

The hosts were keen to get themselves back into contention, in this enthralling derby game and put Leamington under pressure from the restart. Some seventeen minutes of continuous attack play in the visitors red zone, saw Leamington lose two men to the sin bin in quick succession and concede a converted try, enabling the hosts to reduce their deficit to a mere three points.

Disappointingly, the match quality deteriorated, with staccato football being played, caused by the constant intervention of the match official. This was not helping either side and it was Leamington, with a full complement of players now back on the park, who went further ahead, courtesy of the pace of Chamberlain again, with his second try of the afternoon. McKowen added the conversion.

Leamington were still required to defend in depth as the game entered its final stages and Full Back, Logan Deeley, was once again in top form to halt a forceful run from OL's, with a solid, head-on tackle.

The visitors did make the final entry in the scorebook, following skipper, Joe Kinghorn's steal at an OL's lineout. He followed the claim, with a direct run, up field, giving his side good field placement. From this promising position, Leamington won a penalty, which was converted by the sure footed boot of Northover and which proved to be the last play of the match.

Full Time: 14 - 27