Spaniards Win Manx Bowl Final

Northern Spaniards beat Castletown 23-6 at Ramsey to claim the Shimmin Wilson Manx Bowl for the first time.

Castletown took charge of the Bowl final early on after Davy Oldfield and Mark Thomas both conceded penalties to set Town up with good field position and a shot at goal. Dan O’Connor slotted the three pointer at the second attempt after ref Daryn Thompson spotted some movement behind the goal line. The 3-0 lead was doubled on ten minutes when O’Connor knocked over his second penalty with Spaniard scrum half Gareth Hinge acting as the miscreant. O’Connor missed a further opportunity on twenty five minutes though and as half time approached it looked like Town would be defending a 6-0 lead after the break.

The Spaniards were having none of this though and in injury time at the end of the half they struck twice. Gareth Hinge was the catalyst for both tries as he tapped quick penalties to keep momentum going as the Spaniards attacked. The first quick tap found skipper Tom Davies in a little space and he drew the last defender before offloading to right wing Michael Stroud who strode over unopposed to make it 6-5. Then with the final play of the half Hinge took another quick tap and after Darren Ideson was held up just short, prop Chris Melvin was on hand to drive home from inches and give the Spaniards a morale boosting 10-6 lead at the break.

Town lost prop Pete Jones to the sin bin in the very first play of the second half when he shoulder charged Mark Thomas. This gave the Spaniards some early impetus and they were soon rewarded when replacement Dave Edge who was on for the injured Davy Oldfield, landed a long range penalty to increase the lead to 13-6. Edge added a second penalty midway through the half when Town skipper Chris Scott handled on the ground and with the score standing at 16-6 it was time for Town to chase the game.

As ever, when running from deep a side is always open to a quick counter attack and this is precisely what happened. Town attempted to run from their own twenty two and when the ball was spilled in midfield, Spaniard scrum half Gareth Hinge was quickest to react. He scooped up the loose ball and scooted home to put the game beyond Castletown at 21-6 and Dave Edge added a conversion just to be sure.

This was a fine swansong for the Spaniards who seem likely to be no more next season with rumours abounding that both Ramsey and Southern Nomads will elect to field their own second teams next season.