Old Leamingtonians 3 Nuneaton Old Edwardians 18: OLs blown off course despite having elements in their favour

The game was played with a strong wind blowing straight down the pitch and the visitors had first use, with their backs taking full advantage with deep kicks into OLs defensive areas.

Only resolute defence and wind-disrupted handling errors prevented Old Eds from scoring during the opening quarter.

That said, OLs enjoyed the better of the half with good forward breaks putting the visitors under pressure.

However, whenever the hosts threatened, a long clearance kick by the visitors relieved the pressure.

OLs held out well against the wind until the 33rd minute when, following a mistake at a lineout, Old Eds were awarded a scrum which led to a forward-orchestrated try.

The conversion was missed and half-time was reached with OLs only five points adrift having defended stoutly against the elements.

The second half was barely underway when OLs were awarded a penalty in front of the posts which Angus Rose converted to reduce the deficit.

The score should have heralded a strong second-half performance with the strong wind at their backs.

However, it was the Nuneaton side who began to exert the pressure, with OLs retreating into their shells.

The majority of the second half was played out in the OLs half as the home side failed to make the most of their advantage, with the strong wind even disrupting their own lineout.

Old Eds needed no second invitation and two unconverted tries and a penalty helped them extend their advantage.

 Old Leamingtonians failed to make use of the breezy conditions at The Crofts last Sunday, but turned in a much-improved second-half performance into the teeth of the wind to beat visitors Newbold 38-14.

OLs attacked from the start and looked to have crossed the line in the early stages. However, Newbold’s strong defence, a feature of the match, forced an error and from the turnover their winger ran the length of the pitch to score a converted try.

Undaunted by the setback, OLs returned to the attack and equalised as Jordi Pocknell ran a good line to score by the posts.

Matt Davison added the first of four conversions.

Pocknell and Davison repeated the process later in the half, but OLs coughed up the ball once again, allowing a blistering Newbold counter-attack and a deserved converted try.

OLs had the last say, though, as Josh Blight showed good strength to score in the right corner for a 19-14 half-time lead.

Now playing into the elements, OLs cut out the handling errors and played a much simpler forward-based game.

Will Fawcett picked up from the base of a ruck to crash over and Pocknell completed his hat-trick with a drive over the line following numerous phases.

Gloss was added late on when OLs disrupted a Newbold lineout and Cory Bailey sped over to complete the tryscoring.