The first team squad had a tough afternoon on a wet afternoon at Kelham Road against a strong Dronfield team.

The visiting scrum proved a dominant component in a match where Newark scored all their points in the first half through through captain Matt Walton and a penalty from George Leeson

A reshuffled team included a start for wing Calum Holmes, prop Josh White and league newcomer Jamie Robson at lock. A second-half substitute was another new face in Luke Hudson.

The rain started as the match kicked off and Newark gave the visitors a real scare as Elliott Paley and Haydn Godfrey combined to charge down a kick which the visitors did well to clear.

Newark kept pressing and when a 22 drop out went direct into touch it gave Newark a scrum on the 22 but Dronfield cleared through their stronger scrum.

That scrum set the pattern for the rest of the game as the Dronfield pack dominated throughout, with Newark only achieving some stability in the second half.

The visiting pressure told after nine minutes when Dronfield scored a try out wide. The testing conversion was made to give a score of 0-7.

Newark were undaunted and Dronfield conceded a penalty in front of their posts when the ball was killed after a hack through. George Leeson slotted home to make it 3-7.

Back came Dronfield with their dominant scrum and scored wide out on the right with, again, a very good conversion being made to leave Newark adrift 3-14.

Newark supporters were cheered a few minutes later as Paley ran on to intercept a pass. As the defenders closed in, he kicked forward and Walton won the contest with a defender to score a try.

On the stroke of half-time, Dronfield kicked a long penalty to leave the score at the break 8-17. The rain had relented by the start of the second half but Dronfield started powerfully and ran in a try on the right. This time, the conversion failed.

After a period of midfield stalemate, Newark began to exert some pressure and Dronfield found it difficult to break out.

Unfortunately, handling errors meant that Newark were unable to make inroads. At this point, Hudson was introduced to make his senior debut.
After soaking up the pressure, Dronfield were able to break out and , in the final moments, scored an unconverted try to leave the final score at 8-27.

After back-to-back home games, Newark are away to Belgrave next Saturday (20 September), kick off 3pm.

Team: Hawkins; Holmes, Waqalevu, Catley, Walton; George Leeson, Paley; Godfrey, Dodders, White, Robson, Clayton, Nathan Leeson, O’Leary, Brogden. Subs: Dogiel, Staniforth.

Tries: Walton. Penalty goal: George Leeson.