Newark 2nds lose to Paviors 2nds 22-49

After a commanding performance against Southwell last week Newark will have approached this traditionally one-sided game at Burntstump Hill with a degree of anticipation, if not confidence, and indeed for large parts of the first half they had the upper hand, particularly during the first 20 minutes.

Newark showed intent from the first kick of the game, taken in the air and at pace by Josh Duggan, who popped the ball up to colt Will Saege for a charge up the centre, forcing a scrambling Paviors defence to concede a penalty and an attacking line-out 10m out. After cycling the ball right and then left, Newark stretched the Paviors defence, before sending Nick Moore over to touch down in the left corner - 0-5.

With their tails up, Newark were back on the attack moments later, but Pavs had pulled themselves together and after a solid period of resistance, took the opportunity to show their own attacking moves on the back of some injudicious backchat to the ref and a penalty in their favour.

It was now Newark's turn to show their mettle in defence, with the home side using their trademark driving maul to good effect from the line-out and forcing Newark to concede a further penalty for collapsing. Pavs came back again with their maul, but this time were held up, and despite an ominous backward movement at the resulting scrum, the ball was recovered and cleared safely by Guillaume Pauvert, who looked sharp all afternoon at scrum half. And with the pressure relieved (for now), the visitors took advantage of sloppy line-out work by Pavs to snaffle the ball and go on the charge, Conor Brice putting Rhys Overland into space to score just right of the posts - 0-10.

This signalled a lengthy period of hard graft for both sides midfield, as each tried unsuccessfully to stamp control over the game. But it was Pavs who managed to turn the screw, asserting dominance in the scrum and their clearly well-drilled maul to good effect, forcing Newark to concede further penalties and leading ultimately to a fine converted try to the left of the visitors' posts - 7-10 going into the break.

With the sun behind them in the second half, Newark should have been at some advantage over the home side, and indeed they put together some good attacking play but it was blunted by a rising penalty count, and their defence proved porous as an astute Pavs effort pulled them out of shape. By the end of the third quarter, the home side had scored a further 3 converted tries and the Newark lads were scratching their heads for inspiration - 28-10.

This was to come in the unmistakeable shape of Ben Wells who pushed his way over the line after Newark had kept the ball in hand and put together a more structured effort in attack - 28-15.

However, Paviors came straight back with two converted tries, one from a fluid attack from the restart, and the second when they crashed through from an attacking line-out - 42-15.

With the game clearly getting away from them, Newark did strike back, with Wells again instrumental in putting Josh Duggan over for a fine forwards try (42-22), but with the clock running against the visitors, it was Paviors who were to have the last word with a breakaway try on the left to give a final score of 49-22.

Plenty of positives to take from this performance despite an ugly scoreline, with a strong showing in the first half and some intermittent bright spots during the second, but we struggled at the scrum, gave away too many penalties and didn't in the end come up with a satisfactory answer to the excellent Paviors driving maul.

Nonetheless, this was a committed whole squad effort with no one leaving anything on the pitch, and a man of the match performance from flanker Jordan Cooling who was a handful for the opposition throughout.

Thanks to Paviors for hosting us and next up - Lincoln at the new Kelham Road clubhouse.

Tries: Nick Moore, Rhys Overland, Ben Wells, Josh Duggan
Conversion: Rhys Overland