Leamington off the pace against leaders

Leamington knew they would be in for a testing time against the Midlands Two West (South) leaders. However, they will be disappointed at the final scoreline as it did not reflect the part they played in a very entertaining match.

Playing conditions were superb, with a firm pitch, sunshine and a slight wind advantage that Spa benefited from in the first half.

Spa immediately took up the challenge with a well-worked try in the opening minutes. Danny Ruyssevelt, busy as ever in the back-row, won the ball for Spa and allowed Alex Carroll to break free up the far touchline. He found John Raby in support and the winger outstripped the defence to race over.

The home side quickly responded with two quick-fire tries, the second of which wsas converted, to take 12-5 lead.

Spa regained their composure and began to put together some excellent rolling mauls engineered by Nick Maxwell, Danny Phillips and Craig Eastham in the front row.

They levelled when, from a scrum close to the home line, Patrick Northover took possession and feigned to ship the ball outside before darting under the covering defence to score a try which he converted himself.

Just before the break, Barkers hit back with another converted score to regain their seven-point advantage.

The first half had been keenly contested and both sides had provided some excellent footballing skills. However. Spa had found it difficult at times to contend with the overall pace of the home side and this point became exacerbated in the second stanza.

There was no lacking in commitment from the Spa squad but a break in the middle of the park allowed Barkers to add a bonus-point converted score. The hosts extended their lead with a penalty and in the dying minutes, with Spa down to 14 men due to injury, nipped in for two further tries, one of which was converted.