A Leaping leopard at the back of the lineout!

Market Rasen 2nds 3 - Newark 2nds 51

The start of the pennant league season and an away trip to new comers of the league, but far from unknown, Market Rasen.

The squad saw a senior debut for winger Will Britten and first starts of the season for David Fagan and Scott Crosby, all in the backs, the forwards had another different second row partnership, this time with Reece Hodnett and Ben McCarthy, and Chris Coens first game in 3 seasons, welcome back.

Good rugby weather greeted us and Market Rasen kicked off with a slight breeze behind them.

Newark were caught napping from kick off and found themselves 3 - 0 down after 2 minutes. This kicked Newark into gear and soon the forwards were dominating and the backs through Ted Bunn in the centres, making big yards.
A catch and drive from a line out and good control saw Hodnett over the line first.
This was followed by a blitz of trys in the first half in which Newark were clinical, the pick being from a line out, Bartsch, the leaping leopard at the back of the line out gave quick ball to the backs, one hit up and a switch of play found Will Britten for his 1st try in senior rugby in his first game, training pitch stuff. further 1st half trys came from Matthew Cove x 2, one dummy and the other from another dominant line out, Britten picking up a second and Craig Hawes his customary score.
One conversion was kicked from Fagan, half time, 3 - 32.

Second half and Rasen upped their tempo and physicality, Newark were struggling to keep the continuity of the 1st half and the clinical edge had gone. Rasen though were not going to breach a solid defence and Newark were to add 3 more trys, 1 more for now hat-trick debutant Will Britain, a typical forwards try from scrum half Ben Ennals has he bounced through a tackle and Toby Edlin somehow catching a pass after a pirouette and ball juggle, 2 more conversions from Fagan, final score 3 - 51.

Points to note:

3 out of 3 for the season, well played boys

Ben McCarthys try that never was, those of you who have been to Market Rasen will note the huge try areas, a chip through from Fagan would on any other pitch been long dead, McCarthy chased and put down, the Ref however deemed the ball dead albeit still a good meter inside the line.

Scott Crosby throwing an intercepted pass only for the referee to have just blown his whistle to give Rasen a penalty after not benefitting from an advantage, 1-1 in the disallowed trys category.

Joe "Rocky" Tinsley, on the pitch for 60 seconds, 2 penalty's and a yellow card, must work on that discipline, a cracking game when he returned to the pitch.

Hooker Matt Cove and his attempted drop kick conversion in front of the posts that sailed wide, big sock fine.

Team

Forwards: Jackson, Cove, J Barnsdale, McCarthy, Hodnett, Bartsch, Hawes, Coen
Backs: Ennals, Fagan, Britten, Bunn, Bridges, Edlin, Crosby
Subs, R Byrom, Tinsley, Stark

Report Writen by Alex Jackson

SECOND VERSION WRITTEN BY MARTYN LLEWELLYN-SMITH

MATCH REPORT – NEWARK 2ND TEAM VERSUS: MARKET RASEN - AWAY - SATURDAY 24th SEPTEMBER 2011

BY MARTYN LLEWELLYN-SMITH

TITLE: NINE TRY NEWARK WIN WITH APLOMB

MARKET RASEN CAME OUT FIGHTING AND PUT THE FIRST POINTS ON THE BOARD AFTER WINNING A PENALTY AFTER 3 MINUTES.

Newark responded by turning up the pressure, winning and controlling the ball and launching their young, nimble backs at their heavier opponents.
Narrowly missing 3 try scoring opportunities through dropped passes and over eagerness, Newarks adventurous open running and attacking play was rewarded after 13 minutes when Rhys Hodnett crashed over the line for an unconverted try.
The backs finally got the ball to stick firmly to their hands and after a sparkling handling movement Britten sped off down his wing, outstripping the opposition to score a fine try, converted by Fagan. Score, 3-17. Cove then increased the try tally going over from a forward catch and drive.
Newark upped the tempo following the introduction of Byrom for the injured Scott Crosby and through increasing forward dominance and slick handling by the backs, Newark scored a further 2 good tries from open play that were finished in style by Britten and Cove. Fagan converted one against the strong gusting wind.

HALF TIME: 3 – 29

At the start of the second half, with the wind behind them, Newark pushed forward but failed to capitalise on their initial dominance through a bunch of silly mistakes.
However normal service was soon resumed when Hawes took the try tally to 6 and Brittain ran in another fine try for his third and Newark's seventh.
This brought the score to 39 – 3.
Matt Cove decided he would attempt to dropkick the conversion from in front of the posts but duly missed. After being punched by an opponent boss was on the floor return the compliment and both players were dismissed for a 10 min rest.
Then I also added the eighth try which was converted by Fagan. Although Fagin narrowly missed most of the conversions he had a very sound distribution game and kept his backs moving in very windy conditions. Towards the end, following a big cuddle between Ben Ennals and a Market Rasen prop, which resulted in a yellow card for the Rasen forward, Toby Edlin decided to juggle with a try scoring pass after a huge overlap was created through quick handling. This was obviously too easy to for him to just run in. So he added the ninth try in Shane Williams fashion, recovering his footing and jinking this way and that to seal a comfortable win 51 to 3 in Newark's favour.
This capped a fine team performance in which all 18 players used contributed greatly to overcoming a determined though thoroughly outplayed Market Rasen team that never gave up.

Team
Barnsdale J, Cove M, Jackson (Captain), McCarthy, Hodnett, Hawes, Bartch, Coen C, Ennals, Fagan, Britten, Bunn, Bridges, Edlin, Crosby, Byrom, Tinsley, Stark.