Early 12-point lead wiped out as Spalding RFC lose to Ashbourne in home finale

Spalding RFC 12
Ashbourne RFC 38

Spalding RFC were unable to build on an encouraging first half as they suffered a 38-12 defeat to Ashbourne in their final home game of the Midlands Two East (North) season on Saturday.

Already relegated and having only won once all season, Town were always likely to be up against it in the Memorial Field clash against promotion-chasing opposition.

Having suffered a 100-0 loss last week at the hands of West Bridgford, the team welcomed back James West at fly-half.

That allowed Will Shields to revert to his normal role of scrum-half, with Richard Cooke and Mark Haighton returning to the pack along with Ben Williamson at full-back in place of the injured George Douglas.

With a strengthened side, there was the promise of a better result in front of an expectant crowd. As expected, Ashbourne started confidently – but they were in for an early shock.

Spalding launched a counter-attack from inside their half, but some good tackling saw the ball lost deep in the visitors’ territory and immediately Ashbourne tried to spin the ball out to their backs.

However, Spalding’s backs were up pressing hard and West, sniping, intercepted, juggled with the ball, smashed into the post protector and managed to ground the ball on the try line.

And, with West successfully converting, Spalding had a seven point lead after four minutes.

With this opening score you could see confidence returning to the team. Mark Haighton and Kieran Bailey were winning their own lineout ball and West was orchestrating moves in the backs which had not been seen in recent weeks, with George Brown featuring with strong runs or acting as a decoy.

But Ashbourne certainly had the upper hand in the scrum and their pack was carrying the ball strongly.

With 25 minutes of good, open rugby having been played Spalding struck again. The backs passed the ball out swiftly to Gav Sharman on the left wing and, showing plenty of gas down the wing as he rounded his opposite number, he was finally stopped a few metres short of the line. An excellent offload, saw Jason Steels supporting and he crashed over. The conversion narrowly missed, but

Spalding’s lead had increased to 12 points.

Richard Cooke then pulled up with hamstring problems, which forced Steels to move to the back row and Ash Anker came of the bench into the backs, featuring for the first time this season after a shoulder injury over 12 months ago

Ashbourne came storming back as they stepped up their game, with their left winger breaking free twice with an immediate response and suddenly the visitors had a two-point lead, which they held onto by the half time whistle.

The second half was a different story, with Ashbourne settling down into their normal pattern of strong forward play. Their dominant scrum gained turnover ball, allowing the visitors’ centres room to run with the ball.

A 15-minute spell early in the second half saw the game suddenly swing quickly in Ashbourne’s favour, with three tries scored, as Spalding struggled to defend out wide. Town were now having to kick for territory to relieve pressure, but with each kick resulting in Ashbourne regaining possession, the pressure was constantly on the home team.

With Ashbourne finishing off with a converted try in the last ten minutes, the game finished disappointingly for Spalding – having had such a good first half against one of the top teams in the league.

Town: Jacob Greaves, Dave McLaren, John Barratt, Mark Haighton, Harry Brown, Kieran Bailey, Harry Cole, Will Shields, James West, Gav Sharman, George Brown, Ben Shields, Ben Williamson. Subs: Ash Anker, George Reid and Bruno Figuerido.