Sat 7 Mar 2020
Newbold entertained Hereford looking to make amends for the earlier season defeat inflected by them. Writes Phil Fereday. Team news was the Bold had five changes from last week all in the forwards. A welcome return to Ben Dawes, Stu Houghton, Rudi Reid and Rob Sandercock with Ben Hartwell moving to prop. On the other hand, the backline having a more settled look with the same personnel as last week.
From the kick-off, Hereford gained possession and applied pressure on the Bold defence using their big heavy forwards to make yards upfield and after 10 minutes of play were 3 points up from a penalty kick. The Bold in the second quarter began to get more of the ball and started to gain ground with their own heavy hitters, Rudi Reid and Ben Dawes being prominent. They were also beginning to get on top in the scrummage. The result of this was Hereford began to concede penalties and Dan Obrien was on target with two kicks to make the score 6-3 to Newbold at half time. The first score of the second half came from a dominant scrum by the Bold on the halfway line the ball was picked up by Sam Thompson who made ground before offloading to Lee Lightowler who in turn made an outside break speeding down the touchline to score in the corner this was converted by Dan Obrien 13-3. Newbold were now putting the visitors under pressure and the next score came from a line out with the ever-improving Rob Sandercock having taken a clean catch and the forwards then driving Hereford backwards over the line for Rudi Reed to claim the touch down which was converted by Dan Obrien 20-3 to the Bold. Hereford now showed why there are in the top half of the league table and once again put Newbold under pressure for a period of time ending with a converted try 20-10. This was the wakeup call Newbold needed and the final period of the match saw the Bold maintaining possession with some slick ball-handling from the backline allowing James McGill and Josh D’Arcy to make telling breaks. The final score of the match fittingly came from the hard-working forwards after a succession of five metres scrums No 8 Sam Thompson touch down for an unconverted try 25-10.
