Late winner is a parting gift
Newark Rugby Club’s trip to Ampthill tomorrow, to face the leaders of Midlands Two East, will be the last appearance of the season for David Fagan, the 19-year-old who continues to make a big impression at Kelham Road.
Fagan is off to New Zealand next week on a rugby and cricket-playing trip before returning to take up university studies in September.
The 19-year-old forced his way into the Newark squad at the start of the season and signed off on home territory by dropping the goal that brought a 26-23 victory over Dunstablians in the final minute of Saturday’s game.
His emergence as a senior player follows his part in the successful under-17 squad two seasons ago.
He has been joined in the senior teams this season by a number of his colleagues, such as scrum-half Jamie Sizer, wing Russ Westcott, the prop Fred Tatham, hooker James Wood and flanker James Dyer.
Fagan’s drop goal earned a win over Dunstablians and lifts Newark into third place, five points off an Ampthill side whose match against Wellingborough was postponed until a week tomorrow.
Fagan completed a successful day by also scoring two tries in the first half as Newark fought back after being 15-0 down in the opening quarter when Dunstablians ran in three tries.
Newark quickly recovered from that poor start through the work of Fagan and a try from Aloesi “Buddha” Waqalevu. With Danny Coen adding a conversion, the home team led 17-15 at the interval.
Poor discipline almost cost Newark dear in the second half when both Coen, the captain, and flanker Mark Coles were sin-binned at the same time, giving Dunstablians a two-man advantage.
The visitors duly took advantage of this and scored a try through their number eight to lead 23-20, with Coen having kicked a penalty before he was sent to the cooler to give the Blue and Whites a brief lead of 20-18.
Good work by the undermanned Newark team then brought them back into the game, and they forced a penalty under the posts that was kicked by Michael Dobson to make the score 23-23.
Newark regained their two men for the final few minutes, but the contest looked like ending in a draw only for Fagan, who dropped a goal from near the halfway line in a pre-season friendly. He repeated the feat this time in a much more pressurised situation from around 40 metres out.
Newark are expected to host Mansfield a week tomorrow in the delayed quarter-final of the Notts, Lincs and Derby Cup.
Newark 2nds 49 - Sleaford 0
A first half hat-trick from Chris Blood helped Newark 2nds to a good Pennant win in muddy conditions against Sleaford.
The centre struck in an opening blast that brought Newark a 34-0 lead by half-time, with lock Matt Gibson also grabbing a try alongside 14 points from kicker Mark Miller.
To complete the rout, Newark scored three more tries in the second half from the number eight and captain Alex Jackson, prop Fred Tatham and full-back Andy Hill.
Ashbourne 19 - Newark 3rds 20
A late try from prop Craig Barnsdale earned Newark a memorable Pennant success at Ashbourne where the visitors had spent long periods of the game trailing.
Barnsdale struck from a line-out move close to the Ashbourne line that proved to be the winning score.
Newark had started slowly and were 7-0 down in the first few minutes. However, by half-time Newark had taken a lead of 8-7 following a try by flanker Nick Skelton and Dan Harrison conversion.
Ashbourne grabbed the initiative after the interval with two tries. But the arrival of substitute flanker Nick Millington turned the match, and debutant Nick Sudbury touched down for a try that was converted by Harrison before Barnsdale was driven over.
Newark’s 4th XV had no match again. They have only played once in the last month because of cry-offs.
Minis results, Newark Under-10s Cavaliers 5 (try — George Mumby), Lincoln 0; Roundheads 0, Market Rasen 0; Cavaliers 10 (tries — Nathan Furniss, Josh Alexander), Market Rasen 0; Roundheads 0, Lincoln 10.
Newark Under-8s 50 (tries — James Harding 3, Edward Buck 2, Archie Alton 2, Matthew Thompson, Scott Illsey, Harvey Raynor), Lincoln 45; Newark Under-8s 65 (tries — Harding 5, Buck 2, James Brogden, Toby Taylor, Illsey, George Goodson, Archie Alton, Raynor), Market Rasen 65.
Southwell U-15s 29 - Belper 15
Captain Matt Cureton put in a man of the match performance to lead his troops to their fifth successive win with a tough test against a Belper side who had no intention of giving Southwell an easy game.
Cureton opened the scoring with a try midway through the first half, and tries followed from Jamie Dinning (2) Jack Chandler and Oli Richards, with Oli Hayes kicking two conversions.
Both the Ollerton and Spartans first team games were cancelled at the last minute so both teams had plenty of replacements.
It was a fiery but fair local derby, with Ollerton having the edge as they scored three tries to one, with the first going to centre Scott Gretton who powered through the midfield and dived over under the posts, with Carl Milnes adding the conversion.
Spartans replied with a well-struck penalty as the hosts turned round with a 7-3 advantage, and the second half saw plenty of changes from both sides that seemed to spark trouble, with a couple of yellow cards dished out to calm things down.
Spartans scored a fine try from the forwards that was also converted, but Ollerton finished strongly, with Dan Marrows chipping through and diving on the ball to score, before converting his own try.
Winger Eric Cranmer rounded off the day when he picked up a loose ball, palmed the defence off, and touched down in the corner.
