Eagerly anticipated top-of-the-table clash

Midlands Two East North
Newark 19 Market Bosworth 3

A burst of three tries in last 20 minutes swept Newark to success over Market Bosworth in the eagerly anticipated top-of-the-table clash at Kelham Road.

Victory for Newark by three tries to nil stretches the lead at the top of Midlands Two Easy North to 16 points over the Leicestershire club.

Newark played some excellent attacking rugby in the final quarter after frustrating a big crowd for long periods.

Bosworth led 3-0 at half-time after a scrappy first half where Newark concentrated on trying to batter their way to success.

Just as Newark looked set for an unproductive afternoon, the gaps and space started to appear after a prolonged period of pressure, including wing Toby Edlin having a try ruled out for a forward pass following a break by Matt Cox and Alex Moore.

Aloesi Waqalevu had endured a quiet afternoon until he stepped up the gas to provide Newark’s first try, Moore stretching the Bosworth defence through a long pass which gave his co-centre the room to use his pace. Cox missed the conversion.

There was no stopping Newark after this point and two more tries in the final 10 minutes rewarded a whole-hearted performance led by front rower Shaun May.

Captain Chris Tate slipped through for Newark’s second try followed by a third score which came after some skilful interplay between Moore and Alex Sibilski before Cox touched down on the right. The fly half converted his own try after also improving the score by Tate.

Newark travel to third-placed Oakham next Saturday, kick off 2.15pm.

On Tuesday night (Jan 31), kick off 7.30pm, the club hosts RAF Hawks with many of the first-team squad expected to be in action again.

Team: Tate; Sibilski, Waqalevu, Moore, Edlin; Cox, Clark; May, Tomlinson, Gray, Tatham, Evans, Webster, L Cove, C Coen. Subs: J Barnsdale, D Coen, Riley.

Tries: Waqalevu, Tate, Cox.
Conversions: Cox (2).

Rob Wildman