Leamington upset by Kidderminster tempo

KIDDERMINSTER 46 LEAMINGTON 10

Leamington’s poor Midlands Two West (South) form continued with a heavy defeat to a Kidderminster outfit they had comprehensively beaten earlier in the campaign.

Spa had the worst possible start, going down to a penalty goal inside the first minute.

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They quickly recovered from the setback and Craig Smith and Mike Kelly combined to set up a promising break. Then Patrick Northover launched an enormous up and under which caused confusion in the home defence.

With Spa seemingly settling into the game, they failed to follow up their own kick ahead and watched helplessly as the home side ran in a try. Kidderminster then turned up the heat with two further scores, the latter following a strong surge by their forwards.

Leamington were struggling to match the tempo of the opposition.However, they were dominating the line-out, with Simon Harry and Craig Smith both in superb form. It was Smith who was instrumental in getting Spa on the scoresheet as he broke clear and sent Northover in for a try which made it 22-5 at the break.

A bright start to the second period saw Northover put in a couple of penetrating kicks before Simon Dudley raced through to set up an impressive drive for his forwards.

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As the Spa pack edged closer to the home tryline, Northover claimed the ball and sent Tom Daplyn in for a try.

With Leamington continuing to impress in the line-out and trailing by just 12 points, the game looked in the balance.

However, the visitors struggled to get any cohesion into their open play and a concerted period of Kidderminster pressure resulted in a further try after Leamington failed to clear their lines.

Dudley continued to test the home defence with some elusive running and Spa’s forwards stuck to their task throughout.

Kidderminster were proving a tough nut to crack, though, and added two further tries in the final quarter.

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