A STRONG SECOND-HALF PERFORMANCE

REPORT WRITTEN BY ANDREW FEARN

Saturday March 4

Midlands Two East North

Newark found winning form following two defeats by toppling bottom-placed Spalding at Kelham Road.

A strong second-half performance brought a bonus point win for scoring five tries after the firsts had led 7-0 at the interval.

Here Andrew Fearn reports on the afternoon.

Spalding kicked off on a bright sunny day but the result was to epitomise their day; it didn’t go 10 metres and Newark had a midfield scrum.

Newark camped in the opposition half for the next 30 minutes but found it difficult to establish the accuracy to put scores on the board. Spalding, to their credit, frustrated the Newark attacks.

Newark were not blameless and knocked on with the line beckoning. However, after 20 minutes the home side’s superiority paid off and a poor Spalding clearance resulted in a fluent move down the Newark left from which Dan Mackie scored. The new England Counties Under 18 stand off, Matt Law, slotted the conversion from a wide angle.

The remainder of the first half was more even and Spalding probed down the left with a penalty into the corner. A knock-on enabled Newark to clear their lines from a scrum.

Dave Garland carried well to the Spalding 22 but it was at a cost as he was taken off with an injury. His replacement was the debutant, Mason Coulam, recently released from the Tigers Academy. He immediately made an impact by turning over Spalding possession.

The remainder of the half was a stalemate with Newark in the ascendancy but centre Chris Tate earned a yellow card with some back chat after a penalty awarded to Spalding. The sides turned round with Newark in the lead by 7-0 but they had already demonstrated their superiority.

Newark started the second half at a canter and attacked down the left, winning an opposition line out. The ball was spun right and Mackie added a second try to his personal tally. The conversion was missed but Newark were 12 nil up.

Newark maintained the pressure and were unlucky not to score after a fluent move involving Alex Scott, Ed Poulson and Matt Clark. A foot in touch handed the ball back to Spalding but it meant that Newark welcomed back Tate.

A Spalding clearance resulted in a scrappy line out which resulted in a Spalding breakaway with a kick ahead and a Spalding try as the Newark defence were beaten to the loose ball.

The usual vociferous Newark crowd were quietened by this development and a prayer or two were offered up as all the good work from the home side suddenly looked to be in danger.

However, the relatively easy conversion was missed and Newark remained in the lead 12-5. Clark arrived as a replacement for Newark and immediately added a dynamic presence.

To their credit, Newark responded almost immediately with a turnover on the right from the restart and a flowing backs’ move down the left with Tate going over for the try. The conversion was missed.

Once again a Spalding restart failed to go 10 and the initiative was handed back to the home side.

After a short period of stalemate, Newark earned a penalty at the breakdown and a further penalty as the defence failed to retreat 10.

At this point, Spalding probably felt themselves fortunate to have all 15 players on the pitch. However, a quick restart saw Chaz Dixon shrug off a number of tackles to finish strongly and earn himself a try.

Within minutes he had repeated the process, this time finishing off the best move of the game with good forward offloads before the backs set him free to leave him accelerating past the hapless Spalding full back.

A conversion by Law made the score 31-5. The last 10 minutes or so will have been disappointing to both sides as errors abounded and neither was able to progress.

Despite that, Newark were delighted to hear the referee’s whistle to signal the end of the game and a convincing bonus-point victory. Unfortunately, their visitors look destined to start next season in the league below.

Team: Mackie; Charles, Dixon, Tate, Scott; Law, Chapple; Dunning, Bartsch, Barnsdale, Webster, Bagga, Poulson, Riley, Garland (capt).

Subs: Coulam, Hunter-Shaw, Clark.

Tries: Mackie (2), Tate, Dixon (2).

Conversions: Law (3).