Leamington hold their nerve to record crucial victory

Leamington showed they had heeded the lessons of the recent narrow defeat to Banbury by overcoming out-of-form Dunlop in an equally enthralling Midlands Two West (South) encounter.

Nick Maxwell cajoled his pack of forwards into another polished display and this, together with the supreme effort from his back row and some scintillating attacking play by the Leamington backline, saw them to victory.

Leamington began in confident mood, exerting intense pressure on the Dunlop defence.

It was ultimately rewarded with a well-judged, long-range penalty goal from Tom Jewitt in the 15th minute.

Almost from the restart, Leamington increased their lead with a well-worked try.

Mark Baldwin put in a clever cross-kick which was picked up by Tom Daplyn and he slipped a short pass to Danny Ruyssevelt to enable the back-row forward to crash over.

Jewitt added the extras and Spa were looking well worth their ten- point lead.

Dunlop had found it difficult to break into Spa territory and matters were made worse as a strong tackle from Daplyn gained Spa possession on the far wing. Jewitt produced a clever chip which Alex Carroll latched on to before outstripping the defence and racing in to score.

The score galvanised the visitors and they responded with a penalty goal.

Spa then created a chance to go further ahead as they stole the ball from a Dunlop lineout.

Alex Sharman sent up a high kick that Baldwin raced on to and the two combined cleverly to make ground into the Dunlop 22-metre area.

As the half entered the closing minutes, Dunlop began to impose themselves and hit Spa with a converted try followed by a penalty goal to reduce the arrears to a mere two points at the interval.

Dunlop began the second period with renewed confidence and penned Spa inside their 22 for a long spell.

Daplyn put in a superb tackle to stem one attack and then Jewitt’s boot cleared Spa’s line to gain some respite.

However, Dunlop’s perseverance was rewarded with a penalty that was to give them the lead for the first time in the afternoon.

The visitors were now looking good value and asking the Spa defence searching questions.

They continued to keep Spa on the back foot and it took a superb break-out by Patrick Northover, followed by a driving run from Craig Smith, to give the home side a breather.

As the game entered the final quarter, Spa hit back with some enterprising play.

They were awarded a scrum on the far side and as the ball was fed out, Northover put in the deftest of chips, which skipper John Raby gathered before racing over to score.

Jewitt sent over another well-judged conversion and Spa were back in business.

They then sealed victory, courtesy of Jewitt’s trusty boot, with a final penalty goal.