NEWARK MIXED THE VERY GOOD AND VERY AVERAGE

REPORT WRITTEN BY ROB WILDMAN

Midlands One East

Newark recorded a third successive home league win to retain hopes of an unlikely rescue act from relegation.

A rich afternoon of entertaining rugby brought Newark a win through five tries, two each from speedsters Ben Dixon and Luke Tupholme plus one from the ever reliable John Webster.

Huntingdon posted six tries in reply but were let down by two missed kicks in the final minutes which would have earned a narrow win and condemned Newark to one of three relegation places.

Matt Clark’s team remain 12th, but have closed the gap on 11th-placed Market Rasen to six points with two games left.
Bottom-placed Matlock are already relegated while Old Laurentians need some kind of rugby miracle.

Newark mixed the very good and very average in a match of 11 tries.
An early penalty from Alex Scott opened the scoring before Huntingdon sprinted through some flaky home tackling.

However, it all made for fluctuating contest and some excellent attacking play which brought Dixon, who has now scored five tries in two games, a first-half try followed by scores for Tupholme and Webster, each rounding off sustained attacks.

Newark also had to weather a reshuffle when captain Clark was injured mid-way through the half which gave Jordan Slack an opportunity at fly half with Dan Mackie moving to scrum-half.

Slack proved to be one of Newark’s best performers including one try-stopping tackle at the corner flag in the first half.

Newark led 20-12 at the break, tries by Tupholme and Webster rewarding some good play.

However, straight after the interval a sleepy spell allowed Huntingdon to score two tries in quick succession for a lead of 20-24.

It needed something special to change the momentum and Dixon, on the right wing, produced an outstanding individual try by winning a kick and chase following Scott’s chip ahead.

Dixon followed that moment of skill by gaining a yellow card when he held on to the ball at a stoppage and Huntingdon struck back to score a fifth try for a 25-29 lead.
Newark regrouped and a penalty from Scott closed the gap to a point before Slack followed Dixon’s individual play by firing a cross kick which ended in Tupholme grabbing the ball to score as Huntingdon dithered.

Scott converted the try to put Newark 35-29 up before Huntingdon dominated the final stages to score a try but faulty goal kicking saw the conversion and a final penalty go astray.

Thus Newark live to fight another day – at Ilkeston next Saturday, kick off 3pm.

As for Huntingdon their blazered followers won the after-match ‘boat race’ – putting plenty of beer between them and their opponents.

Team
Newark: Scott; Dixon, Waqalevu, Birch, Tupholme; Mackie, Clark (capt); Dunning, Tomlinson, Hempstead, Duncan, Webster, Coen, Garland, Hubbard.

Subs: Chapple, Jordan Slack, Spurr.

Tries: Dixon (2), Tupholme (2), Webster.

Conversions: Scott (2).

Penalty goals: Scott (2).

Scoring sequence (Newark first): 3-0 Scott pen, 3-7 Huntingdon try & con, 8-7 Dixon try, 8-12 Huntingdon try, 15-12 Tupholme try & Scott con, 20-12 Webster try, 20-17 Huntingdon try, 20-24 Huntingdon try & con, 25-24 Dixon try, 25-29 Huntingdon try, 28-29 Scott pen, 35-29 Tupholme try & Scott con, 35-34 Huntingdon try.

Sin bin: Dixon.