Newark Seconds 20, Long Eaton Seconds 71

In what was to prove a long afternoon for Newark Seconds, Long Eaton gave an excellent display of well-drilled attacking rugby which the visitors struggled to adapt to and ultimately paid a heavy price for.

To be fair to Newark, our own attack was effective when allowed to develop, with Duncan Coote and Tom Lee going over for excellent scores in the first half, and Matt Walton – who had a fine game – showing blistering pace to complete a whole team effort in the second. With Sam Booth adding a conversion on the final try and kicking a penalty in the first minutes of the game, the visitors at least showed that when they focused, they could put points on the board, although they will be kicking themselves for leaving a number of unfulfilled opportunities on the pitch.

Defensively, however, we were chronically prone to error, with missed tackles, wild passing and a failure to mark channels (which at times seemed like motorways) contributing to a rapidly rising Long Eaton tally, not helped by a heavy injury count, with Nick Moore, Josh Whittington and Later Ben Hamer, playing well at lock, being forced off the pitch. By the final whistle, the home side had scored eleven tries with eight conversions, testament to a consistently well-executed game plan combined with good, heads-up rugby – final score, 71-20.

Despite the general run of play, there were some performances of note on the Newark side, with colt Toby Taylor having an excellent – and busy - game at full back, colt Sam Booth kicking well from hand and doing his best with scrappy distribution from the base of the scrum, and colt Josh Barrett having a steadying impact when he came on later in the game.

Next up – friendly v Loughborough away.

Tries: Duncan Coote, Tom Lee, Matt Walton
Conversion: Sam Booth
Penalty: Sam Booth