| 10 September 2006, 6:15 pm |
| SpoonAAs Take on Old Rivals |
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| A dazzling length of the pitch run by England Counties XV wingman Hamish Smailes which brought a spectacular late try was not quite enough to save Sedbergh School Old Boys when they went down 29-28 to the SpoonAAs XV in the 56th annual fixture between the two sides. |
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 The Spoon AAs - formerly the Anti Assassins invitation side that played its first game at Sedbergh - fielded a strong and cosmopolitan line-up for one of the time-honoured engagements on their fixture list.And from first to last the game was a celebration of exhilarating, open rugby for a big crowd to enjoy on a glorious autumn afternoon.
The SpoonAAs opened the scoring through scrum half Jon Swarbrigg, but Sedbergh were soon in the lead at 7-5 with a Jack Smales try converted by Guy Ford. Swarbrigg then scored his second, goaled by fly-half Dan Eddie, but Sedbergh struck back immediately when Dan Redmayne snapped up a loose pass to score and Ali Chalmers converted from the touchline to put Sedbergh 14-12 ahead at half time. James Squire recaptured the advantage for the visitors with a try that Eddie again converted, but though the SpoonAAs were dominating possession, Sedbergh always looked dangerous and against the run of play they engineered a second try for Jack Smales which Chalmers again converted.
By now the territorial advantage and pressure was coming mostly from the SpoonAAs and two tries in as many minutes gave them the decisive scores, Squires used his pace to go around the cover and then Number 8 Charles Forgham-Bailey driving through the defence to make it 29-21. The last word went to the irrepressible Hamish Smales, who rounded off a superb occasion with a memorable score, Connor Armstrong adding the goal. Next Spoon AAs fixture will be against Stonyhurst College Old Boys on Sunday, October 15, which will be followed by a fund raising dinner on behalf of Wooden Spoon. |
| Author: Sarah Griffiths |
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