Newark Rugby Club secure a close 56-54 win over Oadby Wyggestonians at home

Fresh off a barnstorming win against league leaders Long Eaton, Newark Rugby Club 1sts backed up their performance with a 56-54 victory over Oadby Wyggestonians at home.

Newark fired straight out of the gates mounting an impressive lead early thanks to tries by Carson Hepi and young winger Ovidus Gilder.

Prop Matty Ashton scored the third under the posts and Alex Scott hit another successful conversion to put them ahead 21 points in only 17 minutes.

Newark looked threatening whenever they had possession.

Scott then hit a penalty to put Newark further in front.

Only 25 minutes into the game, James Tarbatt crossed over to secure Newark’s try-scoring bonus point.

Newark’s offloading was instrumental in setting the pace for the game and Oadby struggled to react before finally managing to secure some possession.

Oadby managed to use their power to surge over the line for the first time half an hour into the game.

It was a pattern that would emerge as the game marched on and would allow the visitors to get more points onto the board.

Only five minutes later, an attacking line-out from Oadby closed the gap further with the score now showing 31-14.

Some fancy passing from Newark enabled skipper Will Britten to get over and give the home side a lead of 41-14 at half-time.

Oadby came out of the changing rooms determined to mount more of a challenge and immediately started testing the Newark defence.

An initial try after the break was disallowed as the side lost possession in crossing the line.

Scott and Tarbatt teamed up in a beautiful piece of play that saw the latter score from a beautiful ball after running in from 30 yards out.

In the 48th minute, the score was now 48-14 with Newark at this point scoring the equivalent of a point a minute.

It would be Oadby’s turn to get rapid points though as they scored the next try.

Newark were awarded a penalty which Scott converted, taking them up to a 20-point lead.

Strong countering from the opposition saw them get another converted try against Newark.

The home side tried to rally with some meaningful possession but were challenged by the Oadby defence.

An interception from Oadby saw one of their wingers run the ball across from 40 yards out.

Oadby were closing fast and soon scored yet another try as they smelled blood in the water.

The home crowd was slightly nervous before Tarbatt made a break and got Britten over to make it 56-40.

With a bit more breathing space for Newark, Oadby challenged harder and the home side quickly realised that they could not rest on their laurels.

A good passing game enabled Oadby to get over the line once more, before, two minutes later, crossing over again with another converted try.

This made the score 56-54 but the opposition were out of time as they challenged but fell just short.

Both teams came off the field to the applause of an appreciative crowd.

Newark now travel to Sutton Coldfield on Saturday (kick-off 2:15pm).