Leamington Colts game abandoned following head injury to Kenilworth player

The clash happened following a race for the ball ending in an an accidental head injury.

It was deemed serious enough to end the game just 10 minutes into the second half, with all possible results still in the balance.

Unbeaten at home this season, and with victories against powerful opponents like Stow under their belt, Leamington had a point to prove under the floodlights at Moorefields on Friday evening.

Returning from injury, Lauchie Davies joined Jamie Loffman in the second row, whilst Archie Thompson shifted to prop, joining Syd Harvey in the front row.

Anticipating lots of possession from their big pack on a drying pitch, the coaches had selected a back division containing pace throughout, with Christian Whitley-Sagoo and Connor McCarthy on the wings outside the exciting centre partnership of Owen Treanor and Will Shelton. Luis Erinmez captained the side in front of an expectant crowd of well over a hundred on a chilly December night.

After weathering an early period of pressure from the visitors with some disciplined and committed defending, Leamington began to run through their familiar attacking routines.

The half back partnership of Tom Van der Hoven and Finn Cassidy was working well behind some belligerent carrying by the forwards, but against the run of play a speculative pass was intercepted on the half way line and with Leamington’s players committed to the attack, the visitors ran in unopposed to take an early lead.

A sustained period of pressure from the home team began to test the abilities of Kenilworth to resist, but unlike the famous 1266 siege of their eponymous castle (regarded as the longest in Medieval England) the visitors eventually capitulated - in this case to a scything, 50 metre run from Will Shelton.

Leamington were immediately under pressure form the restart. A lineout just outside their 22 resulted in a Kenilworth penalty, a quickly taken tap and strong running from their No8 re-established the lead.

Further attacks from Kenilworth foundered on some great tackling at the breakdown. Isaac Ward, Joe Johnston and Luis Erinmez all winning penalties from the ref, who eventually blew for half time with the score at 5-12.

A strong bench allowed the coaches to make changes to the Leamington pack - long time club player Ben Keeshan taking his place alongside newer faces such as hooker Tommy Holland.

Fresh legs brought increased impetus to the team, but frustratingly no more points. Both sides were defending well, and there followed a period of play where neither side managed to produce clean lineout ball, or set up successful attacks, with only a Kenilworth penalty kick troubling the scorers.

Eventually a series of scrums produced a promising attacking position in midfield for Leam, however a slip in a backs move allowed Kenilworth to hack the ball towards the Leamington line, leading to the clash of heads which ended the game.

This was another good to watch performance in front of a large bipartisan crowd by a fast developing young Colts side against one of the strongest teams in the area, and bodes well for January’s Cup competition.