THE GAME WAS A CHALLENGE FOR THE TEAM

REPORT WRITTEN BY NICK SCOTT

Newark arrived at a bleak Spalding confident of reaching another 40 point total given the comfortable victory earlier in the season.
However, Spalding had an experienced and competitive set of forwards, and it was clear from the kick off that Newark would be in for a real contest.

From the kick off, Spalding pressured the Newark line with a series of pick and drives.
Good defence kept them at bay in the first five minutes, before Newark made a typical break from deep resulting in a try for George Cosslet, converted by Alex Scott.
Shortly after that, Alex Scott made a clean break from a scrum and fed Pat Ford, returning from injury, for another score.

After each score, Spalding took the game to Newark, testing their defence with attacks close to the breakdown, but Newark’s defensive resolve meant that they got no reward.
From turnover ball, the ball was fed to Connor Slack who raced over for the first of his two tries from 30 metres out.

To close the half, Jack Clayton burst through the Spalding defence for a try that looked back to his back row days, a try most prop forwards would dream about – stepping and outpacing the cover.

The half time score was 28 – 0 with all 4 tries being converted by Scott

With the wind at their backs, Spalding started the second half brightly and pressed the Newark line.

After a couple of slight altercations with the Spalding forwards, George Cosslet received a Yellow card and from the resulting penalty, Spalding forced themselves over the line for a try.
Newark hit back quickly, with a try for Curtis, who was a handful for the Spalding defence all game. Connor Slack followed this up with his second try, which typifies the afternoon – Newark turning the ball over following Spalding pressure, moving the ball quickly, and out pacing the Spalding defence.

The brave defensive display was led by Jack Clayton, who put in a couple of huge hits on Spalding forwards.

The final score came from Alex Scott, who received the ball inside his own half and burst through a couple of tackles then was able to outpace the defence, before being tap tackled but just managing to dot the ball down.

This game was a real challenge for the team, especially up front where defensive duties meant they had to work hard, but the experienced rugby know how of Alex Jackson, Ian Tomlinson and Dave Garland among others saw them through.

Indeed, the feeling among the team after was that perhaps a few points went begging, and if they had been more clinical, there might have been a few more points on the board