Spa dumped out of cup by Dunstablians

Leamington suffered an early exit from the Midland Intermediate Cup at the hands of a well-drilled Dunstablians side.

The Bedfordshire outfit lie second in Midlands Two East (South) after three wins and a defeat to the leaders and put Spa under immediate pressure through a series of cleverly orchestrated attacks.

Simon Magill was on hand to stem an early incursion when he claimed an up-and-under with several Dunstablians players around him.

Soon after, Patrick Northover stole the ball from the marauding visitors and gave Tom Jewitt the opportunity to clear the danger with a solid boot up field.

Spa were showing plenty of grit under this constant barrage and when a clever, flat pass caught them cold and a score looked inevitable, Northover arrived on the scene with a robust, try-saving tackle.

With nearly 20 minutes on the clock and Spa barely able to get out of their half, the visitors finally broke the deadlock with a converted score following a strong run by their pack.

The visitors then shunned a simple penalty attempt as they tried to capitalise on their dominance.

When Spa finally got into the game, it took some sharp defending from the visitors to stop a darting run by John Holland.

With ten minutes to the break, Spa were hit with two quickfire scores. The first came as Dunstablians hit Spa with another forward-inspired attack and the second from an exquisite interception, which led to a score under the posts and a 19-point lead.

In the dying moments of the half, Spa were denied a certain try when Alex Carroll’s pass to winger John was adjudged forward.

With the strong-running Holland absent through injury after the interval, Leamington struggled to find the necessary intensity to break down the stubborn Dunstablians defence.

The visitors then showed them how it was done with an unconverted try and it needed another try-saving tackle from Northover to prevent them going further ahead.

Spa persistence did eventually gain some reward.

A long punt into the visiting 22 was ushered into touch by Dunstablians and from the resulting lineout Chris Dickinson claimed the ball and set Spa up for a drive which culminated in a touchdown for Tom Greevy.

Northover capped a fine individual performance as he nailed the conversion from wide out.

As the game entered its closing stages, Spa continued to ask questions of the visitors’ defence with some probing runs. However, Dunstablians had one final trick up their sleeve and when they stole the ball from the hosts in their own 22, they had the pace to sprint up field and score under the posts.