Newport (Salop) RUFC

Sat 4 Dec 2021, 14:15

Dudley Kingswinford

29 - 41

(HT 26-20)

Newport (Salop)

Dudley Kingswinford

Newport (Salop)

Dudley Kingswinford 29 Newport 41

Newport prevails with five-point win on a less than perfect day

By: Peter Maher

Over the course of a season games will be played that live long in the memory. There will also be those that will be short remembered other than the five points that were added to the season’s tally. Saturdays win over DK was one such match.

A strong wind was blowing assisting DK in the first half which they used to good effect. The wind and cold fingers seemed to cause issues to Newport in the seventh minute when a dropped pass was hacked through by DK to score. Coupled with a penalty in the second minute DK were quickly eight points to the good. Port responded immediately winning a scrum from the restart. Henry Vakka making a welcome return from injury made the break and put through Jake Leonard to score. Vakka struck again in the twentieth minute making a break from lineout ball putting in Nemani Rayabo to score on his debut making the score ten to eight in Newport’s favour. On twenty-three minutes DK put through a simple kick over the top which they dotted down in the corner. Another kick over the top by DK resulted in a penalty which they duly converted. At this point Newport were far from controlling the game as evidenced by a line break by DK on thirty minutes which resulted in a further try, twenty-three to ten to DK. Orisi Nawaqaliva joined the game on thirty minutes to make his Newport debut. On thirty-five minutes a breakdown penalty to Newport seemed to provide an attacking platform, the kick being despatched to the DK twenty-two. The ball was lost at the lineout but a poor clearing kick handed the advantage back to Port. They made no mistake with this second chance, a driving maul going over for Matt Hubbart to score. Following a further successful DK penalty Newport were looking at a half time deficit of twenty-six to fifteen. Henry Vakka again popped up with a bit of magic in the final play of the half making a line break and putting in Jake Leonard for his second. Half time DK twenty-six, Newport twenty-two.

With the wind in the second half things seemed set fair for Port to reverse the halftime deficit. After forty-two minutes a booming kick from Leonard from a penalty at halfway set up a Port lineout at the DK ten metres. Once again the Port driving maul from the lineout proved effective with Oli Buckley dotting down, DK twenty-six Port twenty-seven. DK responded with a successful penalty attempt on forty-six minutes to once again take the lead twenty-nine to twenty-seven. After fifty minutes DK demonstrated their struggles with the wind when a poor clearing kick gave Port a line out twenty metres out. From the resultant possession Nemani Rayabo picked a superb line to cut through the DK defence and score his second of the afternoon. DK twenty-nine Port thirty-four. There then followed a thirty-minute period of play where Newport gave DK no opportunities but never looked entirely comfortable controlling the game always leaving open the possibility of a sucker punch. The game was finally put to bed with the final play of the game when a driving maul from a lineout at the DK five allowed Connor Adams to dot down for the try. Final score DK twenty-nine Newport forty-one. Jake Leonard converting three conversion attempts from seven on a  difficult day for kicking.

Following the game Director of Rugby and Head Coach Bob Adams commented “It was a disappointing first half where personal errors cost us three tries. Going in at half time only four points down was in context of the game a reasonable position. We by and large controlled the second half although we failed to put the game away until the final minute. Away from home and playing at I would say seventy percent of our abilities I would take this result. A win and five points is always a positive. We will look at individual errors this week and get them fixed. We have a difficult home game against Syston next week and we will put in the hard work this week to be ready.”