Kesteven vs. Newark (10/12/2016)

Newark 20 Kesteven 11
Saturday 10th December - Midlands League 2 East North

Kesteven were pleased to welcome back some of their injured players for this match and it was great to see Tony Woolerton return to the side. The injury problems were still there however as Olly Wood dropped out when he failed a last minute test on his shoulder. Jack Stokes came off the bench to fill the gap at centre.

The Kesteven side looked much stronger and were giving as good as they got. The pack were a match for the opponents with Turner and Cowley looking strong. First scoring chance came after a fine run by Oli Hughes took play to the Newark 22. The home defence came off-side and Galloway opened the scoring with the penalty. Newark came back strongly and forced Kesteven to concede a penalty which just squeezed inside the post to equalise. K's again took play up into the home half. Good work by Whittaker caused panic in the home side and a second penalty followed quickly. Galloway again obliged with a fine kick to regain the lead. This was to last almost to the break, a searching kick by Newark saw Kesteven carry the ball over their own line and from the 5 metre scrum Newark won the ball and moved it into their backs. Their impressive centre ran straight and broke the Kesteven defence to score at the posts. The simple conversion gave Newark a 10 - 6 advantage at the break.

In the second half play was again pretty even but there were signs that the Newark pack were winning more ball and they were able to keep Kesteven pinned in their own half. K's were defending well but 15 minutes into the half Pirie was judged to have tackled a Newark player late and was sent to the sin bin. Newark took advantage and made the extra man count with a try 2 minutes later. The conversion failed and Newark now had a 9 point lead. This Kesteven side however showed good resilience and got back into the game with a piece of pure opportunism. Newark were penalised for pushing early at a scrum 30 metres out. Turner snatched the ball and took a quick tap to race over in the corner before anyone had realised what was happening. The conversion by Galloway just failed but K's saw their chance. They won a further penalty and kicked to the corner but the line out was lost and the chance was gone. Newark had a couple of late chances and again they were able to add a third try. They should have had a fourth but their centre knocked on with the line at his mercy. Kesteven spent the last five minutes with some possession but hey were not able to close the gap to earn the bonus point their play deserved. Wood came on with 5 minutes left to try to spark that effort but it is clear that his injury was too much and he came off to be replaced by Pert. Callum Scuffham showed his support for the Club by stepping onto the bench at the last minute.

Team was: A Whittaker, T Miles, O Hughes, J Stokes, H Cox, C Galloway, B Addlesee, J Cowley, R Sheardown, G Purvis, L Vincent, C Pirie, S Butler, T Woolerton, D Turner.
Replacements: O Wood, W Pert, C Scuffham