Newport (Salop) RUFC

Sat 9 Oct 2021

Sheffield

23 - 19

(HT 10-5)

Newport (Salop)

Sheffield

Newport (Salop)

Midlands Premier Division

Sheffield 23pts v Newport 19pts

Following their defeat to Scunthorpe last weekend Newport were again narrowly defeated by another of their closest rivals, a loss that sees them drop from 1st to 6th in one foul swoop showing just how competitive this league will be following the resumption of regular rugby.

Jack Wells was celebrating his 200th appearance and Newport were happy to see their normal flanker pairing of Jack Price and Harry Mahoney restored to the back row following injury. Again, there was a reshuffle in the backs in an attempt to find the best half-back pairing with Connor Adams starting at 9, and George Castledine in at 10, his preferred position whilst Jake Leonard dropped out of the threequarters to fill the full back berth.

After a cagey start, Adams fell short with a long-range effort but early pressure by Sheffield drew a penalty which was converted by Finn to give the home side a 3 – 0 lead after eight minutes. Sheffield were carrying well with the Sheffield 6, Womack, proving particularly difficult to bring down and he was largely responsible for getting Sheffield over the gain line and on to the front foot. To their credit, Newport were defending well but struggling to get into opposition territory.

Much of the play was between the two 22’s, so with defences on top there was little threat to either goal line until after twenty-five minutes Sheffield put a penalty into the corner and after several shunts were resisted finally drove Hicklin over the line for the opening try, Finn converting for a 10 – 0 advantage.

Newport had been somewhat flat in this opening half spending the majority of it defending but when they did eventually work their way into the home 22, some good phases resulted in Chris Perry, who has had an outstanding season to date, wriggling over out wide. Adams couldn’t convert and the half ended 10 – 5 in Sheffield’s favour, Newport on the balance of play maybe a little fortunate to be only the five points down.

Newport started the second period with visibly more intent but almost immediately Craig Wilson was sin-binned, Sheffield taking advantage as the momentum swung back in their favour, Finn adding penalties on 43 and 50 minutes to extend their lead to 16 – 5.

 RAF captain Dave Manning came on for his first appearance of the season to replace Wilson and Newport then enjoyed a purple patch, Harry Mahoney stretching over after a number of good phases in the sixty first minute and then Perry intercepting in his own half virtually from the restart to race away and touch down under the posts , Leonard converting both to put Newport in front 16 – 19. Newport continued to press, Jake Goulson replaced Rhys Morgan and Sam Brown came on for Adams as Newport looked to keep the pressure on. An overlap was created for winger Alex Gow and it looked as though he could have made the corner but he cut inside and was swallowed up by traffic and the chance was lost. A second yellow card then ensued, this time for Matt Hubbart, meaning Newport were now hanging on a bit. Finn missed a kick to bring the scores level but then sadly Newport’s game management deserted them, a quick tap in their own half that came to nothing when a kick to touch was clearly the better option followed by some loose passing that went to ground when sticking it up the jumper was what was required.

As they entered time added on, Newport may have been forgiven for thinking they had seen it out but a bizarre decision on halfway when they were penalised shunting the Sheffield pack backwards having had the edge in the scrum all afternoon bewildered most observers. Sheffield put the penalty into the Newport 22 and piled on the pressure going through phase after phase, retaining the ball well before centre Taylor crashed through to score on the last play of the game in the 86th minute, Finn converting for a final score of 23 – 19, much to the delight of the vocal Sheffield contingent.

Director of Rugby Bob Adams commented “we as a group have to take the result on the chin. Clearly decisions whether made by ourselves or the match official hurt us late on in the game, having established the lead and then having to endure 6 or 7 minutes added on time resulting in Sheffield scoring to win the game hurt. As I said to the group it’s history now and we must look at the many positives and move forward. Our next fixture sees our neighbours Bridgnorth visit Forton Road on October 23rd for a league & cup double header.” 

Team: 15 Leonard, 14 Gow, 13 Perry, 12 Bailey, 11 Evans, 10 Castledine, 9 Adams, 8 Morgan, 7 Mahoney, 6 Price, 5 Hubbart, 4 Buckley, 3 Wilson, 2 Cowell, 1 Wells

16 Manning, 17 Goulson, 18 Brown

Newport now have a much-needed week’s break before tackling Bridgnorth at home in a League and Cup double header on Saturday 23rd October at Forton Road

Written by: Chris Wilde