Newark Seconds Overturn Lincolnshire Rivals 9 Tries to 2

In a hugely enjoyable encounter (from the home side’s perspective) Newark Seconds had a bumper day on pitch two, scoring 9 tries and converting 4 of them.

Newark put a stake in the ground from the first play of the game with some superb retention by Himsworth after kick off which allowed Scott to get the ball down the line to Tweedie, who had scored before a scrambling Rasen had worked out what had hit them. 5-0.

This heralded a flurry of tries for Newark. Some skillful interplay between Moore and Scott saw Clack go over in the right corner to take the score to 10-0; moments later, forward pressure from the kick off saw the high-speed Newark line swing into action again with Henderson scurrying over to take the total to 15-0; and with the Newark forwards turning the screw in the set pieces following a faltering Rasen restart, quick ball from 10 yards out put Tweedie over for his second – 22-0 (converted Scott).

After such a high tempo start, Rasen could have been forgiven for packing their bags and calling it a day. Instead, they shrugged it off and started to try and edge their way into the game, with a combative spell in the home team’s half, during which Moore went off with a head injury and Newark conceded several penalties. Nonetheless, it was Newark who were to score next after a fine line out steal saw Henderson touching down yet again – 29-0 (converted Tweedie).

With the otherwise excellent Matthysz yellow-carded for a misjudged tackle, Rasen finally managed to pull themselves together, launching a concerted attack down the right to get their first points of the game – 29-5.

Although down to 14 men, the half ended up with a fine riposte from the home side, when Scott dinked a lovely chip over Rasen’s heads, gathered the ball and offloaded to Tweedie to touch down for his hat trick – 34-5.

First blood after the break went to Newark, with some fine service from the base of the scrum by Jenkins putting the deceptively rapid Tommy Hill into space to score right – 39-5.

However this was to herald a dry period for Newark, punctuated by a ‘comfort break’ for the hard-working ref, and a soft score gifted to the opposition by some unfortunate kicking from hand – 39-12.

With the rhythm of Newark’s attack faltering, Coach Byrom decided it was time to swap tired legs for a quality set of finishers from the bench, unleashing the quartet of Shine, Ford, Lieber and Burns into the fray. Indeed it was Ford and Lieber who would score the final tries of the afternoon (both converted by Jenkins), the first after some clever sleight of hand by Jenkins and the second after a bullocking run by Dykes set Newark up with a scrum in front of Rasen’s posts. Final score – 53-12.

This was a comfortable performance by the (for once) full-strength Newark squad. The forwards were dominant, with Hempstead, Dyke and Himsworth in imperious form, Matthysz and Williams stopping anything coming their way and the back row of Godfrey, Fotheringham and Barnsdale causing trouble everywhere. With an abundance of possession, half backs Jenkins and Scott were able to unleash a fast back line on an opposition struggling to come up with answers for long periods of the game. To their credit, Rasen remained combative to the final whistle, but it was Newark who ruled the day.

MotM: Alex Scott

Tries: Findlay Tweedie (3), Josh Clack (1), Alex Henderson (2), Tom Hill (1), Pat Ford (1), Toby Lieber (1)
Conversions: Alex Scott (1), Findlay Tweedie (1)