The flood of points masked a tough afternoon

Midlands Two East North
Belgrave 10 Newark 35

Newark had to defend heroically at Belgrave before collecting another win in their quest to remain unbeaten throughout the season in Midlands Two East North.

Belgrave made Newark work for their 17th win of the campaign and they led 10-8 early in the second half when they were in command for a good period.

Another try for Belgrave at that point would have left Newark struggling to overcome some committed opponents.

It needed some fierce tackling and spoiling to stop Belgrave and Newark eventually escaped thanks to a penalty from Dan Coen and a try by Aloesi Waqalevu, the centre leading an excellent counter attack.

Once Newark had broken the Belgrave stranglehold they dominated the last 20 minutes to grab three more tries through the running power of Alex Moore and the support work of hooker Ian Tomlinson and scrum-half Matt Clark.

That flood of points masked a tough afternoon for Newark despite a winning margin of five tries to two.

Newark’s big squad helped cover for absences up front and two more players, club captain Harry Pick and flanker George Seabrook, became the 41st and 42nd to appear in the league campaign this season.

Pick appeared at prop early in the second half while flanker Seabrook, a Midlands under-18s candidate this season, came on for Webster in the final quarter.

Newark had started strongly only to be denied an early try when Webster was held up on the line. The pressure instead brought an opening penalty from Danny Coen.

Belgrave, however, quickly showed their attacking intentions in the 20th minute by gaining a try from line-out close to the tryline.

Newark responded eight minutes later when Coen and Waqalevu gave Johnny Statham the chance to use his speed and strength on the left which ended in the wing scoring near the corner.

That left Newark 8-5 ahead at the interval, but a lapse in concentration straight after the interval helped Belgrave to score a second try for that lead of 10-8.

Team: Tate; Edlin, Moore, Waqalevu, Statham; D Coen, Clark; Jackson, Tomlinson, J Barnsdale, Primett, Price, Webster, L Cove, Evans.

Subs: Pick, Seabrook, Cox.

Tries: Statham, Waqalevu, Moore, Tomlinson, Clark.
Conversions: Coen (2).
Penalty goals: Coen (2).

Rob Wildman