Newport (Salop) RUFC

Sat 9 Apr 2022

Syston

17 - 26

(HT 17-14)

Newport (Salop)

Syston

Newport (Salop)

Newport ran out winners against a determined Syston side on Saturday to secure the Midlands Premier League title for the first time in the club’s history. The club now go on to play at the National Two level next season, the highest standard of rugby at which the club has ever played.

Any thoughts that Syston might be deflated following last week’s agonising last minute loss to Sheffield were soon dispelled as the home side fired out of the blocks. Port were potentially guilty of “still being on the coach” when Syston powered over after two minutes for the opening try. Port found it difficult to deal with a claustrophobic Syston defence and gave up ground to a couple of penalties after ten minutes. A Syston knock on resulted in a scrum five metres from the Port line which was lost, Syston pushing the maul over for their second. Being two tries down in a relatively short period is a position somewhat familiar to Port over the last few games but battling back against a determined Syston side probably represented the toughest test of their resolve so far. After twenty-eight minutes a concerted period of Newport pressure paid dividends with the Syston defence starting to falter for the first time. A penalty was kicked to the corner for a lineout that was brilliantly won in the windy conditions. The ball was spread with Ricky Bailey making a line break and being tackled just short. George Castledine picked up the loose ball and dotted down for the opening try that was converted by Jake Leonard. Port failed to gather the restart cleanly giving up a penalty that the hosts converted for three points. On thirty-four minutes Jake Leonard added to his tally following a line break from full back that he ran in under the posts from half-way. The subsequent conversion made the half-time score Syston 17 Newport 14.

Newport came out firing in the second half, but events went somewhat against them in the fiftieth minute when Jake Goulson was yellow carded for tackling the kicker in the air. It seemed like an extremely harsh decision from the side lines especially given some of the high tackles that had gone unpunished earlier in the game. One couldn’t help feeling that the Syston player had somewhat “bought” the decision through previous antics, surely an aspect of football that we don’t want to see on the rugby field. Newport were undaunted however and after sixty-three minutes another period of concerted pressure brough a try. The ball was spread leaving Connor Adams to clear a ruck. The ball was picked up by captain Tow Cowell who fed Ricky Bailey on the wing. The opportunity was far from a certainty, but Bailey finished with some aplomb to put Port into the lead for the first time. After seventy-one minutes the referee awarded a yellow card to Syston for a high tackle handing the numerical advantage to Port. This Port capitalised on almost straight away with a penalty kick to the corner for the lineout, the ball being dotted down fittingly by captain Tom Cowell from the subsequent driving maul. A second yellow to Syston made their task harder again but the hosts went down fighting with a couple of spirited breaks, in particular one through the middle of a ruck that was only saved by some desperate defence from Rayabo and Leonard.

A truly historic day for the club that will live long in the memory.

Team: Grass, Cowell (C), Wells, Goulson, Hubbart, Morton, Kendall, Buckley, Brown, Adams (VC), Bailey, Castledine, Vaka, Rayabo, Leonard. Bench, Nixon, Taylor, Nawaqaliva

Score line: 2 min Syston Try (C) 7-0, 10 mins Syston Try (C) 14-0, 28 Castledine Try (C) 14-7, 30 mins Syston Pen 17-7, 34mins Leonard Try (C) 17-14, 63 minutes  Bailey Try (NC) 17-19, 74 mins Cowell Try (C) 17-26. Leonard three conversions from four.