Leamington pressure again left unrewarded

Leamington belied their lowly Midlands Two West position with a vibrant, high tempo performance but were again undone by their failure to marry possession with points.

Kidderminster fielded a big set of forwards who made it difficult for Leamington in the set scrum.

However, they had no answer to Spa’s superb lineout, where Craig Smith and Tom Greevy were dominant.

Spa also proved the more mobile of the two packs and Leamington’s number eight Mike Kelly tested the Kidderminster defence with some dynamic, direct charges, gaining ground every time.

The home side soaked up Spa’s bright opening and set about countering with a concerted effort in the left corner.

They hit Spa with several robust attacks, causing the visitors to repeatedly infringe and made their pressure tell with an unconverted score on the quarter-hour mark.

Spa were quick to put the setback behind them as Patrick Northover and Alex Carroll linked up on the near-side wing to create an opening.

From the resulting lineout, Spa took possession and whipped the ball along the backline, forcing the hosts to concede a penalty which Tom Jewitt slotted over.

From the restart, Carroll claimed the ball and set full-back John Holland off on a run deep into the Kidderminster half. Unable to cope, the hosts once again conceded a penalty which the sure-footed Jewitt banged over.

Kidderminster hit back with their heavier pack laying the foundation for a second unconverted try.

After soaking up constant Kidderminster attacks, Spa eventually broke clear with a run from John Holland.

He linked up with Carroll and once again they contrived to cause panic in the home defence and forced another penalty, which the reliable Jewitt gratefully accepted to close the deficit to a point at the break.

Spa were playing with plenty of fire and continued in this vein in the second period.

With their forwards offering a solid platform for their inventive backs to exploit, Spa were posing a severe test for Kidderminster’s unblemished home record.

However, where Spa currently have an issue is in their ability to kill off a side when they have the upper hand.

Once again, Spa’s failure to finish off concerted periods of pressure came home to haunt them as late in the game and in a rare attack, Kidderminster hit back with a try in the corner.

The conversion meant Spa would be going home without even a losing bonus point, the very least their efforts deserved.