Greeted with a wet and windy Haslams ground

Derby 2's 0 - Newark 2's 19

Newark arrived at this friendly fixture to be greeted with a wet and windy Haslams ground.
Changes saw Nick Samuels move from prop to hooker, I moved to tight head which meant Paddy Robinson started at 8. Tom Bridges moved in to 10 and the return of Josh Jay filled the gap left by Matt Cox who moved up into the 1's, the final changes saw Ben Ennals in at 9 and Ivor Hughes returning to the wing.

The conditions cleared up just as the game kicked off and immediately through 2nd rows Tatham and Codd the forwards took the game to Derby.
An aggressive start from both sides saw Derby pressing early for the first points of the game and a period of 10 minutes saw Newarks defence impregnable after a long period camped in our 22. It was after 20 minutes that Newark finally ventured into the Derby half and after a series of drives from the forwards it was Richard Byrom who saw the chance for an overlap on the blind side and fed Paddy Robinson for a score in the corner. 5 0.
The half continued with the Newark forwards starting to dominate the game, the line out was working well and the backs were making some hard yards well. As the half drew to an end Newark had one guilt edged opportunity to score a second as Sibilski broke and had a two on one with Richard Byrom only to throw a forward pass.

Half time 5 0.

Changes at half time saw Holmes and Fotheringham (back from injury) replace Robinson and Hodnett on the back row.

A similar encounter ensued with Newark very much the aggressors. When Derby did have the ball they looked to go wide but found Newarks drift defence in superb order and mistakes were forced or tackles made.
It was 25 minutes into the half when Newark finally broke the Derby defence down as a series of scrums in the Derby 22 lead to Sam Sibilski finding a gap in the centres to go in for a score, Bridges converted 12 0.
Edlin replaced Overland on the wing and soon Newark were 19 0 up as Sibilski forced his way through the Derby centres and rounded the full back for his second as Bridges again converted.

The final 10 minutes saw some great defence and to come away with a 0 on the Derby points tally is a testament to the whole sides attitude throughout this fixture.

A great win played in proper rugby conditions in the right spirit from both sides.

Well done lads

Alex Jackson

View the last published (may not be up to date) League table at the following link

http://www.newarkrugby.net/pennantleague.htm