Day of glory for Newark
Newark Rugby Club take on their county rivals Paviors tomorrow at Kelham Road (3pm) boosted by a memorable 28-18 triumph over Birkenhead Park on Saturday in the first round of the National Trophy.
The 28-18 victory left long-time spectators saying that it was one of the club’s best performances and a testimony to the hard work of players and coaches in the past two years.
Newark’s reward is a trip to another long-established club, Preston Grasshoppers, in the second round on November 22.
The National Three North team play a league higher than Birkenhead Park, who play in North One, and the Lancashire team will be formidable opponents at Lightfoot Lane.
However, Bob Fowkes, Newark’s head coach, welcomed the challenge, and said: “We have to go to Preston and play to the best of our ability. Against Park, it was the best performance from a Newark team that I have been involved with.”
It is the first time that Newark have played in the competition, having qualified by winning the Notts, Lincs and Derby Cup last season.
After weathering Park’s early pressure, Newark settled to play some creative rugby.
Matt Brewer, part of an impressive back row alongside Charlie Claydon and Lewis Cove, started the scoring by bursting away from a scrum eight minutes from the interval.
Danny Coen, who had earlier missed two penalty goal attempts, converted the try to give Newark a 7-0 half-time lead.
The match was virtually settled in the first ten minutes of the second half when the home team grabbed two more tries, both scored by flanker Lewis Cove.
Each time Cove finished off some excellent pressure by Newark that had seen Park wilt under the continuous attacks, and Coen added the extra points to build a lead of 21-0 after 48 minutes.
Though Park hit back by kicking a penalty and then scoring two tries, Newark settled any frayed nerves with a fourth try when Michael Dobson shot through a hole in the visiting defence to touch down, and Coen, once again, converted.
Lincoln 0 - Newark 2nds 41
Angus Spencer made an immediate impact by scoring a hat-trick on his 2nd XV debut in a comfortable Pennant win at Lincoln.
There were further scores through flankers Gareth Bartsch and Craig Hawes plus one from substitute wing Johnny Statham, while Mark Miller added four conversions and a penalty.
Meden Vale 39 - Newark 4ths 17
A slow start cost Newark at Meden Vale in this Pennant contest, with the home team scoring three times before Newark pulled one back through number eight Stan Hutchinson.
Hutchinson added the conversion and contributed a further try before wing James Witton helped to reduced the deficit further.
Newark Colts 7 - Mkt Harboro 27
A second half try from Ted Bunn was a consolation score for Newark Colts in this second round of the National Colts Cup competition against a strong Market Harborough opposition, with Mark Byrom adding the two points with a conversion.
