Newport (Salop) RUFC

Midlands Premier Division

Broadstreet 37pts Newport 44pts

Well history should have told us what to expect but the Shropshire outfit were still shocked by the ferocity and determination of a resolute Street side keen to halt what has been a poor start to the season for them. The last two visits to the resplendent Ivor Preece grounds were points-fests, 34 – 49 and 33 – 40 respectively and more of the same was to ensue on a near perfect day for rugby where, eventually, Newport again came out on top.

Jake Goulson, Sam Brown and Sam Evans were restored to the starting line up with Matt Hubbart and Connor Adams taking their turn on the bench where Jordan Grass returning from injury replaced the flu-struck Craig Wilson.

Newport had the early possession but gone was the clinical efficiency of last week as most appeared to be suffering from a Bridgnorth hangover and chances were wasted before a try was created for Alex Gow after Street had been penalised and reduced to fourteen when a Newport player was taken out without the ball, Jake Leonard converting in what was the start of an excellent place-kicking performance.

The visitors handling continued to let them down as the simplest of passes were spilled and the offloads that had worked so well the previous week perhaps a little too ambitious. Newport then suffered a major blow after just nine minutes when first Harry Mahoney, sprained ankle, and Chris Perry shortly afterwards, knee injury, were both forced off to be replaced much earlier than planned by Hubbart and Adams.

Newport then conceded the simplest of intercept tries and then sloppy defence let the home side in again under the posts and suddenly from a position of dominance had slipped to 14 – 7 down, soon extended to 17 – 7 after a scrum penalty was conceded after twenty-seven minutes.

Evans then made a break down the right only to reappear out wide on the left after several phases had been worked to score in the corner, Leonard unable to convert, but Newport back within touching distance at 17 – 12. Thirty-three minutes in they were back to square one when several defenders fell off tackles to allow another seven-pointer in under the posts for Street to open up a 24 -12 lead off the back of repeated Newport errors. Leonard knocked over a penalty just before the break to make it 24 – 15 at the interval.

Newport needed to score next and they did so within minutes of the re-start when Jack Wells made good progress through the Street defence before feeding Brown who scampered in by the posts, Leonard tacking on the extras to make it 24 – 22.

Chris Taylor then took the kick off and somehow broke clear to half way but with support runners either side somehow contrived to lose the ball in a cloud of indecision. Thankfully it didn’t prove too costly as on forty-eight minutes Brown burst through to feed Jack Price, on his 50th appearance – not his best by a long chalk – who brushed off the last tackler to score, Leonard again converting and Newport were back in the lead for the first time since the opening minutes.

Eight minutes later they were back behind again when some nice inter-passing again breached the Newport defence for Street’s bonus point try, converted to re-claim the lead at 31 – 29.

Resplendent it may be but with a state-of-the art electronic scoreboard defunct for the afternoon confusion abounded when Newport were awarded a penalty thirty two metres out in front of the posts. A scrum was opted for by skipper Tom Cowell, believing them to be four points down when actually it was only two. “What are you doing, look at the scoreboard” bellowed Director of Rugby Bob Adams from the dugout much to the amusement of the decent sized crowd. Common sense was to prevail when Newport were awarded a further penalty from the re-set scrum and Leonard slotted between the uprights for Newport to lead once more at 31 – 32.

This crazy afternoon of basketball continued as Newport were penalised for a high shot and Street gladly took the three points on offer to haul themselves back in front 34 – 32 with nineteen minutes remaining and the game very much in the balance.

Newport won turnover ball from the kick off, went blind and Evans raced in at the corner for his second, Leonard’s sublime conversion making it 34 – 39. Street worked their way back up into the danger zone through what had been a fragile Newport defensive line for most of the afternoon and took another three points that were on offer when Port were penalised for offside. In hindsight they may feel putting the ball into the corner and going for the try may have been the better option but nevertheless they had reduced the deficit to 37 - 39 and nerves were jangling once more.

Leonard then made a nice break and Dave Manning was held just short but some good tight close quarter phases sucked in the Street defence and the ever alert Adams, who had a fine game, put in a precision cross-kick that Gow collected and brushed off the final defender with ease to score, Leonard missed this time to leave the score at 37 – 44 and Street still in with a chance of grabbing a draw in the final minutes but there were to be no further alarms in the Newport ranks and after winning a turnover on halfway put the ball out of play to clinch a vital five points.

Street will doubtless be disappointed but were well worth their two points and played their part in a pulsating, if error strewn, end to end game of rugby.

Team: 15 Leonard, 14 Gow, 13 Perry, 12 Bailey, 11 Evans, 10 Castledine, 9 Brown, 8 Taylor, 7 Mahoney, 6 Price, 5 Goulson, 4 Buckley, 3 Manning, 2 Cowell, 1 Wells

Bench: 16 Grass, 17 Hubbart, 18 Adams

Newport have a stern test next Saturday when they entertain league leaders Bromsgrove who put Dudley Kingswinford to the sword 85 – 5 at the weekend so are obviously in fine form. Kick Offs now revert to 2.15pm.