Stourbridge 10 Leamington 20: Spa show their stamina in the final ten minutes to Blunt Stourbridge

Despite heavy pre-match rain having made the pitch treacherous, Spa were out sharply with two quick penalties earning a swift yellow card for Stourbridge’s number eight.

Spa opted for a scrum from the second infringement and when Nick Maxwell won the ball, their pack produced a surge to allow Blunt to touch down.

The home side, fielding some very strong runners in their back division, hit back immediately and Spa had to quickly regroup and defend. However, following some impressive running, Stourbridge lost the ball to Tom Daplyn who led a chase upfield to put Spa on the attack again.

Leamington appeared to have weathered the storm and began to probe again in the home side’s 22. However, they lost the ball and the sure-footed Stourbridge attack countered with a score under the posts.

In the dying moments of the half, Stourbridge increased their lead with a penalty to go in 10-5 up.

Spa found themselves playing against the slope in the second period.

However, from their first scrum, Northover and Alex Carroll linked up to get the ball to Chris Murphy who hit the home side with a strong run up the centre of the park.

Then, again from deep in their half, Danny Ruyssevelt produced a fine, darting run to get Spa good ground.

With Spa once again showing flair, Northover sent up testing kick for John Raby and Ruyssevelt to chase, which nearly brought reward in the far side corner.

When play was switched, another intelligent kick to the wing nearly set Jamie Harrison up for a score.

The visitors’ pack were performing wonders both in the set scrum and around the park and not surprisingly, they produced the ingenuity to score the equalising try.

Spa gained possession from a lineout and, with the full support of his pack, Nick Maxwell capped another impressive performance by driving over to score.

As the game entered the final ten minutes, Spa, despite the heavy conditions, produced some scintillating play to take the lead.

Parick Northover took possession from the scrum and allowed Carroll, Murphy and Simon Magill to combine to punch a hole in the Stourbridge line and get the ball to Daplyn, who raced over to score try number three.

With time running down, Spa had one last trick in the armoury.

Despite a couple of earlier failed attempts to get the ball to Jamie Harrison on the wing, Northover chipped the ball invitingly into the Stourbridge 22 and allowed the speed king sufficient room to race in for the bonus-point score.

The conversion, as with their previous three, was missed.