RUGBY UNION: A SUPERB second half performance saw Leamington come away from Dunlop with a hard earned 15-27 bonus point which saw them post five tries in the process on Saturday.
Despite languishing at the bottom of the table and without a win so far this season, Dunlop were in positive mood all afternoon and with Leamington also having plenty to offer, the game was worthy of this very competitive Midlands 2 West (South) league.
In cold, windy conditions, Leamington were soon out of the blocks Tom Lane coming close to an early score but the visitors were caught napping when a line-out led to the simplest of tries.
Leamington skipper Craig Smith led the response by driving towards the Dunlop line before releasing Northover who raced in for the try on the blind side.
Solid work from the Leamington pack continued and was further rewarded when prop, Mark Warrilow, finished off another forceful drive, getting the all important touchdown.
Gareth Shuttleworth made an important tackle before the hosts regained the lead with a converted score and Leamington thought they had scored again shortly before half-time but Craig Smith’s try was ruled out.
After the break Leamington set the game alight with some blistering attack play and it was lineout possession that created early chances.
Dunlop had to dig deep but following a period of sustained pressure Craig Smith was able to race through past two defenders to score in the corner.
This lead however was short-lived, as Dunlop took advantage of a penalty to draw level.
Once again the tide was about to turn in favour of the visitors and this time the home side had nothing left in their tank by way of a response.
A Dunlop attack was shunned and when Shuttleworth ran the ball out, he found Mark Warrilow in support. The big prop forward bulldozed his way through a number of Dunlop tackles, finally getting the ball out to Mark Baldwin who fed Tom Daplyn to race towards the Dunlop try line.
When the defenders ushered him towards the bulky post guards it looked as though this gilt-edged chance had gone begging but the Leamington support swooped in and Aled Thomas took possession to run over in the corner.
This score opened up a sparkling spell of inventive rugby from the visitors and finally put the game beyond Dunlop with Kenny Kwok scoring with a mesmerising run and Jewett this time added the extras as Leamington finished the game in the driving seat.
