Warwickshire 2nd Team Cup Final - Sun 7th Feb 2016

Report by David Daniels

Warwickshire 2nd Team Cup Final - Sun 7th Feb 2016

Sutton Development Side 11 pts v Nuneaton 2nd XV 43 pts

After the depressing National 3 league result for the Sutton 1st XV on the previous day, unfortunately, in spite of a valiant effort the highly rated Sutton Development side failed to put a smile back on the faces of the Sutton supporters the next day, as the Sutton club suffered further disappointment on Sunday 7th Feb 2016, when the Development side failed to retain the Warwickshire 2nd XV Cup in the Cup Final held at Leamington RFC. Leading 11-7 at the break unfortunately the talented Sutton side failed to keep in touch with a strong Nuneaton team in a torrid weather affected second half and they had to hand over the trophy they have held for the past three years to the jubilant Nuneaton side after a 43-11 defeat.

Sutton made a good start to the game and held a deserved 11-7 lead going into the break but in difficult conditions they failed to contain a rampant Nuneaton side, who used the extreme and deteriorating weather systems to good effect during the second period to pin Sutton in their own half, scoring a further 6 tries and 3 conversions to deny Sutton a fourth successive championship.

Nuns kicked off on a water logged and very heavy pitch with only a slight breeze affecting the overhead conditions but this breeze grew stronger as the game progressed and around halftime the rainfall increased making the playing (and watching) conditions more and more unpleasant and it was Nuneaton who coped with the conditions best as Sutton struggled to find their normal fluency and control.

After the opening exchanges Sutton withstood the early pressure coming from Nuneaton and then turned the tables to win a penalty in midfield for fullback Danny Bancroft to land a perfectly judged 35 metre strike for a 3-0 lead after 6 minutes of play.

However, Nuneaton responded well and following the restart they renewed their pressure on the Sutton try line with successive scrums leading to a try for flanker Lewis Wilson 16 minutes into the game. The try was converted by winger Lewis Rigby, enabling Nuns to pull ahead 7-3 and then another penalty attempt by Danny Bancroft frustratingly rebounded off the post midway through the first half but as Sutton stepped up their game with 6 minutes to play to the break the fullback was spot on with his third penalty attempt and from 35 metres he brought Sutton to within a point at 7-6 before on the stroke of half time skipper and no8 Dean Harper scored a captain's try as he drove over from close range to take Sutton into the break with an 11-7 lead.

Although Sutton started the second half in the lead Nuneaton made the better start to final period when Hugh Thomas made a dramatic 60 metre dash up the right wing before offloading to the supporting Brad Marshall, who crossed for an impressive try to give Nuneaton a narrow lead at 12-11 just 5 minutes after the restart. 10 minutes later Nuns extended their lead to 17-11 with a try for Charlie Knight on the left wing after attacking play up the right wing was held up short of the try line by Sutton but Nuneaton won the resulting scrum and quickly switched play from right to left to score on the overlap and then midway through the second half Nuneaton scored a pushover try to stretch the lead to 22-11.

With 20 minutes left to play Sutton tried to step up their game but at this stage Nuneaton held the initiative and the final period of play belonged to them as they ran in three more converted tries on 32 minutes, 36 minutes and 38 minutes. The first of the trio of tries fell to Nuneaton when Sutton were unable to control a hack on through their defensive line in their 22 and Nuns ran through to claim the score. The second followed a break up the right wing, with play cutting back inside to score by the posts and then finally a perfectly executed cross kick from the left wing was caught cleanly and grounded to the right of the posts.

Whilst disappointed at losing their trophy the Sutton Development side still hold a strong position in the Second Team league and they have plenty to play for in the remaining games.