Victory on and off field of play
Newark Rugby Club travel to Preston Grasshoppers tomorrow heartened by a win over Syston on Saturday and a success on Tuesday evening in the committee room.
A 17-10 win over their Leicestershire rivals in Midlands Two East was followed by officials winning an appeal against the club being deducted two points for fielding an ineligible player against Ampthill.
This controversial game, which Newark won 18-15, will still have to be replayed because it finished in uncontested scrums.
A deputation from Newark, led by former president Barry Thompson and Alan Swain, the chairman of playing, successfully argued that league regulations did not allow a club to be docked points from a match that had been declared null and void.
The decision lifts Newark into fifth place, one point behind Ampthill with the re-arranged game to be played on a date to be confirmed.
Newark travel to Preston (3pm) for a second round tie in the EDF Energy National Trophy having beaten Birkenhead Park in the first round last month.
They continued to show their confident style in overcoming Syston on Saturday with two tries from Matt Brewer and two conversions and a penalty from Danny Coen.
Mansfield 2nds 14 - Newark 2nds 41
Two second half tries from scrum-half Jamie Sizer were the among the highlights of Newark’s win at Eakring Road. Their other points came from tries by Matt Clark (2) Chris Blood and Rob Dunning, with Jamie Eveleigh kicking 11 points in total.
Keyworth 2nds 7 - Newark 4ths 17
Newark 4ths produced their best display of the season to record their first win in six weeks. All the points came after the interval from tries by Tom Hill (2) and Chris Wildgust and a Ben Ennals conversion.
Minis and Youth
Newark Under-13s v Southwell W17-7 (tries — Charlie Stubbs, Declan Hursthouse, Liam Westcott; conv — Will Cleasby).
Newark Under-12s v Kesteven L7-35 (try — Rive Malik; conv — James Evans).
Newark Under-11s v Kesteven W47-0 (tries — Sam Noble 2, Oscar Harding, Sam Bell, Ryan Wakefield, Will Cousins, Josh Latham; conv — Cousins 3, Bell 3). v Kesteven W68-0 (tries — James Newman 2, Alex Scott 2, Connor Slack 2, Sam Bell, Josh Nissim, Leo Morris, George Woodman; conv — Cousins 6, Bell 3).
Southwell RUFC
Southwell started well at home to high-flying Mellish but were hit by injuries to George Machin and Nick Dunsworth and it proved to be the turning point as they went down to a 23-13 defeat.
The points came from a try from Sam Fenton and a conversion and two penalties from Paul Rich.
Southwell 2nds lost 26-0 to their Mellish counterparts, and there was a 24-5 defeat for Southwell 3rd XV at home to Mellish, with the consolation try coming from Gary Dixon.
The Southwell Under-17s continued their fine run with a 54-0 win over Market Rasen.
The tries came from Jack Skill (2) Alex Smith, Dan Benson, Jake Brown, Alex Berry, Will Anstey and Reece Dixon, with Sam Hedley kicking seven conversions.
