Newark Rugby Club 1sts denied by Walsall comeback in the Regional Two North Midlands

Newark 1sts made an excellent start at Walsall but were ultimately overpowered by a strong finish from the hosts to lose 42-29.

That first-half effort, which brought Newark a 21-6 lead after 30 minutes, helped earn a try bonus point, which keeps the team eighth in the Regional Two North Midlands league table with two matches left.

Another big plus from a testing afternoon was an impressive debut from Colt Oscar Wilby, who also contributed a try.

Wilby was joined in the second row by another good performance from Will Alexander while 18-year-old Nathan Leeson made his debut start at hooker. Joshie Waqalevu came off the bench to play the second half to back up his debut against Long Eaton.

A good travelling contingent — well hosted by Walsall — saw Newark start quickly on a 4G pitch.

A trademark Ovi Gilder try saw the wing cross near the posts for Newark’s first, to be followed by scrum-half James Tarbatt picking up his fourth try in two games by tracking on the inside of a powerful run from Josh Ashe. Wilby collected his try following strong work from the back row of Tom O’Leary, Sean Denning and Sam Dobson.

The tries were converted by George Leeson.

Unfortunately, a converted Walsall try and an unnecessary penalty through ill discipline just before half-time gave the scoreline a less convincing 16-21 look and a feeling among the travelling support that momentum had swung away from the visitors.

That fear was born out as Walsall got themselves back into the game with three converted tries by playing a power game that Newark struggled to contain at times.

With ten minutes to go the scoreline had turned round to 37-24 with a George Leeson penalty Newark’s only reward.

Newark never gave up and were rewarded with their fourth try by the hard working Dobson to make it 37-29.

Any other score from Newark at that point would have brought them to within seven points and another losing bonus point.

Unfortunately, that was not to be as Walsall had the final word with a try from their influential No 8 to make the final score 42-29.

Newark play their final home league game of the season on Saturday against Wolverhampton, kick off 3pm. All welcome.