Spalding RFC’s under-14s picked up an impressive 30-7 win over Southwell in the third leg of the NLD competition.
The bitterly cold wind had an effect on both teams early on, but Will Fletcher’s short drive from a lineout was a sign of things to come. It took Spalding five minutes to establish a position inside the Southwell 22, with a scrum ten metres from the line. The ball was quickly passed along the line for Jordan Searle to score an unconverted try in the corner. The restart kick was gathered by Fletcher, who set off on a storming 40 metre charge to the Southwell 22. That set up a ruck from which Alex Worth was able to finish with a try. Southwell then had a period of dominance, but Town’s young guns managed to peg them back into their 22. Following a scrum, the ball was quickly sent out to Searle to cross for his second try, again unconverted. Spalding continued to press and another close quarter scrum saw a number of players involved before Fraser Leiper scrambled the ball over for another unconverted try, bringing the half time score to 20-0 in Town’s favour. Spalding picked up where they left off after the break, as Worth broke clear from the scrum, almost making the line before an inside pass to Mark Hendy allowed him to finish off the move. Again the conversion was missed. Southwell did get on the scoresheet, as they forced their way up to a scrum on the Spalding 22, from which their fly half sailed clean through the defence to run round behind the posts for a deserved converted try. From the restart kick, Fletcher won the ball and Lewis set off on a charge before passing for Fletcher, who passed on for Worth to grab another unconverted try.
The final Spalding try saw Fletcher gather the ball from a lineout and race away to score another unconverted try.