Erdingtons first home game of 2022 saw them welcome local rivals Spartans to Spring Lane on a fresh winter’s afternoon.
From the kick off, you could see that both teams were really up for this one. Erdington had to make a late change to the starting lineup as there fly half Tom Findon got injured during the warm up.
Sam Bradley took over the duties of fly half throughout the contest and had a great game.
Erdingtons forwards looked really dominant from the off and took the game to Spartans, during one attack after some great support work and clearing out at the ruck the ball was released to the backs, eventually finding its way to Jay on the wing whose pace took him around the Spartans defence and he scored under the posts, try converted.
Spartans looked stunned. Erdington upped the tempo and saw them camp down in the Spartans half again great support play from the forwards and wave after wave of attacking play saw the quick ball released to Cleggy who took half the Spartans pack over with him to score just left of the right hand post, try converted.
Erdington seemed unstoppable with their two centres breaking through the Spartans defence on regular occasions and the speedsters on the wing offering them the options to offload safe in the knowledge that their full back debutant Diako playing his first game in the white and blue would mop up any scraps.
Again Erdington we’re camped in the Spartans half and from a ruck the ball came along the line to Ryan Hatton who burst through the defence at full pace taking with him a good proportion of the Spartans defence to score out on the right hand wing, try unconverted.
This amount of dominance from the Erdington team seemed to inspire the Spartans and saw them take the game back to Erdington which saw them score under the posts with a well worked try.
This was not the end of the scoring in the first half as Erdington appeared perturbed and quickly got back on the gas and took the game to Spartans, the Erdington forwards were on fire and their running and support play were immense, this culminated in the ball popping out to the backs and it being shipped along the line where Diako took off with great pace and flare and ran through and around the Spartans defence to dot down under the posts for his first try in the Blue and White, try converted.
There was still about 5 minutes left of the first half when again Erdington took the ball and proceeded up into the Spartans half, from a good way out the ball was shipped along the line to Jay out on the wing, who again with great speed and dominance sped around the Spartans defence to score under the posts try converted. The ref blew his whistle for half time to allow not only the players but the decent number of supporters on the touch line to take a well earned breather, the teams turned around at 33-7.
The second half saw the Spartans use the slight slope on the pitch to their advantage and spent a fair bit of time in the Erdington half, but as with Erdingtons attack Erdingtons defence was equally impressive and dominant and saw try saving tackles and turnarounds at the ruck a plenty. Spartans we’re becoming increasingly frustrated with the Erdington defence, however Spartans did cross the Erdington try line late on in the second half but by then the game was already won and this only counted as a consolidation try.
The coaching staff were extremely impressed with the professional performance displayed by every player and struggled to find an individual to receive the man of the match award, so decided to give it to the whole team. Great effort.
Special mention must go to the Captain Luke Badland, who’s maturity belays his years and managed the game superbly.
Final score 33-14 in favour of Erdington.