Spa enterprise goes unrewarded

Leamington showed plenty of enterprise and spirit despite crashing to their eighth successive Midlands One West defeat, with Simon Dudley’s return providing a further positive for the beleagured side.

A raft of changes, particularly within the pack, have contributed to their disappointing start. However, they continue to produce some dynamic attacking play and Saturday was no exception.

In fact it was Spa who set the early pace and they went into the lead with a Tom Jewitt penalty in the opening minutes.

John Holland then produced the first in a series of robust runs, forcing Camp Hill to dig deep to keep Spa at bay.

When Camp Hill finally got the chance to attack, Simon Magill put in a strong tackle to prevent any damage.

However, as the visitors began to find their rhythm, they hit Spa with two quick tries, the latter converted.

The lack of success this season has not dented the confidence of the Spa squad and typical of this was the way Alex Carroll conjured up the best move of the game.

Deep in their own 22, Spa chose to run the ball and Carroll took it at pace, outstripped the oncoming Camp Hill centres and raced upfield.

As Camp Hill’s cover came across, Carroll’s pass to Peter Preece on the outside just failed to find its target for what would have been a certain try.

Further disappointment followed as Camp Hill hit back on the break to force another unconverted try and open up a 17-3 half-time lead.

The visitors were capitalising on the bulk of their scoring chances and they again made no mistake to extend their advantage with a converted try after the break.

Spa introduced new signing Ross Bayston who had an immediate impact with some decisive running from centre.

However, the closing stages saw Camp Hill extend their lead with a try and two penalties.