Spa enterprise comes too late

LEAMINGTON 36 NUNEATON 49

Already-relegated Spa produced a resilient second-half performance despite crashing to their 23rd defeat of a forgettable Midland One West campaign.

Nuns opened the scoring in the sixth minute and racked up a further three converted tries before Spa got on the board in the closing moments of the first half.

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Alex Carroll’s initial break laid the platform, with Nuneaton’s poor clearance finding the hands of Adam Preece. He fed Simon Tyler who charged over the visitors’ line to complete the first-half scoring.

Despite a promising start to second half from the hosts, it was Nuneaton who were next to score, with a converted try taking them 35-5 ahead.

Spa hit back from the restart, with Tyler setting Carroll up for a charge which culminated in the supporting Simon Dudley racing in.

This was quickly cancelled out by another converted score for the visitors.

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Undeterred, more enterprising play from the home side, initiated by Alex Carroll, allowed Preece to touch down under the posts.

Patrick Northover slotted over the conversion and was soon adding more extras afterJohn Raby finished off a superbly engineered try involving Simon Magill, Lewis Kelsey and Carroll.

Nuneaton responded with another converted score after catching Spa napping down the blindside, before Leamington rounded off the afternoon with two more tries.

A lightning turn of speed allowed Carroll to break clear and he found Dudley on his shoulder to score a try which Northover converted.

Spa were clearly enjoying themselves and, when they were awarded a penalty in midfield, Raby raced away before setting up Carroll for another high-calibre try.

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