Sat 1 Oct 2022
After a tough game away the previous week the boys were keen to right their wrongs and show what they can do in front of a home crowd. Market Drayton made the short trip down the A41 looking to give an old foe a warm welcome back to local leagues.
Newport kicked off into the wind and the sun in the first half, Newport ended up with the ball very early on and saw an impressive phase count into the late teens as they tried to batter down the front door of market Drayton’s defence, strong carries from Ross hemming, Luke Kendal and Richard Biggin saw Newport edge their way into the opposite 22.
Great defensive effort from market Drayton awarded themselves a penalty to clear their lines and add some breathing space.
Newport continued their assault and a knock on gave a scrum to market Drayton, Front row Matt pardesi, Rob Mayer and Richard Biggin decided we were not quite done with our attack and as soon as the ball came in cut through market Draytons scrum like a hot knife through butter and we were off again. Some phases later and another incredible carry from Fergus lamb saw him crash over the line, converted by Tom Higgins made it 7-0.
Drayton kicked off and pinned us in our half, they got the ball and introduced themselves with strong carries, but Newport’s line did not break. Drayton push hard to find themselves dipping into Newport’s 22, they carried hard in the forwards and were met strong, they moved to the backs to which Ed Udale and Sam Sargent in the centres rushed off the line and snuffed it out.
Newport won back possession and pushed on up the field, but it was hard work with a determined Drayton shutting them down as best they could, a penalty went our way and captain Rob Mayer told Tom Higgins to take the points, Tom slotted the kick, and it was 10-0.
Drayton once again found themselves in Newport’s half and had their tails up, great hands from their backs stretched and pulled Newport but were unable to come away with any points, Drayton were looking to launch another assault via their forwards when some penalty’s either way would allow the dominant Newport scrum to take control of the game.
Newport’s scrum on Saturday was a sight to behold , although market Drayton had plenty of size it was was no match for Newport’s tight 5, no matter who was putting the ball in there was a fairly good chance it would come out at Newport’s Ross Hemmings feet for another carry from the base or for Phil Bradley at 9 to whip it to the backs, this fortunately allowed Newport to play with some freedom in the knowledge that the boys in the scrum would do their best to keep the ball in a Newport set of hands.
The freedom the scrum provided allowed some nice movement starting in the forwards and coming out to the backs that allowed James bent to show his strength breaking tackles on the wing and work his way in field giving the offload to Ed Udale to score under the posts, Tom Higgins converted
17-0 until the halftime break.
Second half began with push back from Drayton , penalty’s given away allowed them to march themselves into our 22, they won themselves a line out 10M from Newport’s line and they were keen, fortunately the driving maul was snuffed out but Drayton maintained the ball for a few phases until Newport was able to clear its lines once more, pressure again from Drayton gave away a penalty on the half way line and boldly Drayton’s 10 selected a shot at posts, a monstrous kick followed but luckily for Newport drifted inch’s wide of the far post, throughout the game Drayton’s 10 showed us a penalty inside our own half or even just in theirs he had the boot for with plenty of range but unfortunately for Drayton was narrowly missed on all attempts.
Renewed pressure from Newport and some great footwork from back 3 Rob Taylor , Gabe O’reilly and James Bent pushed us deep into draytons 22, the boys in the tight continued their physicality in attack but also moved the ball well allowing us close to draytons 5M line, a penalty was given away and quick reactions from Richard Biggin saw him muscle over the line showing the prop is just as dangerous around the pitch as he is in the scrum, conversion missed 22-0.
Drayton kicked back to Newport and kept us in our half, but penalty’s won allowed Newport to exit, Jake Goulson and James Scott secured the ball at the line out with speed and accuracy in their drills, allowing Phil Bradley to find Luke Kendal and Fergus lamb in the mid field launching our attack again, a few phase later with the backs linking up with the forwards put young rob Taylor into some space in our own half, breaking tackles, goose steps and dummies all in a pair of borrowed boots from a front row player (obviously where he found his extra speed) allowed him to break free step the full back and dive over the line, once again Tom Higgins converted 29-0.
Some rotations were made that brought Henry holmes onto the field, introducing himself early with strong carries and little to no regard for personal well-being in defence bringing the energy of the pack up another notch.
Newport we’re under pressure again from Drayton who were determined to get some points on the board, they worked hard to push into our 22 and got very close to our try line but young debut James lohan was making a nuisance of himself in their rucks, he dived in digging for the ball but was told to leave it by the ref, he obliged knowing he’d slowed down their attack, they played another pod back into traffic that saw James lohan immediately latch on over the ball, Drayton forwards hurled themselves at him but he did not move, penalty won, Tom Higgins cleared our lines again.
Minutes of the game went by as Drayton became more and more desperate to put points on the board, the heat was building and players from both sides were starting to get to know each other abit more than the referee would like, after wagging his finger at both captains for discipline the game was still well and truly on despite the score board Drayton we’re not going down without a fight.
Phases continued into Drayton’s half with Keiran Farge of the bench at full back coming up into the line to assist distribution eventually saw a pod with Fergus lamb at first receiver putting in some foot work and tipping the ball onto Matt pardesi who didn’t want to be outdone by the other prop for scoring smashed his way through the defence from what he assures me must of been at least the half way line, Keiran Farge converted 36-0.
Newport held the fort until the final whistle finishing the game at 36-0 to Newport.
Market Drayton produced a thrilling game and the score board does not show what a challenging 80 minutes that was, in the true spirit of rugby many of market Drayton players and staff stayed at the club house singing songs and drinking beers then carried on into the town, excitedly they have promised us a score reversal at their place followed by a tour of their local watering holes.
A great rivalry and friendship have been sparked and we can’t wait to travel to market Drayton later in the season.
MOTM was Matt pardesi chosen by market Drayton, in the words of their captain “loose head prop is our man of the match for making our 1s tight head swap sides and turning our replacement into a pretzel”
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