Sat 9 Oct 2021
Outstanding win on the road for Newbold in front of their large, vocal, travelling supporters Writes Phil Fereday.
What a difference a week makes with Newbold having some returning players available and with the game being played in glorious sunshine compared to the monsoon of last week. So, the match started and the play for the first quarter was mainly taking place in the middle of the pitch with neither side dominating possession. The home side were first to break the deadlock when they were successful with a penalty - 3-0. Soon afterwards after an incident led to a player from both sides being shown a red card thus reducing both teams down to 14 men. Newbold now started to retain possession putting phrases together dominating both line out and scrums until finally the pack drove over the try line with Stuart Haughton claiming the try which was converted by Ethan Wookey - 3-7. This was the final score of the first half. The second half started with the home side refreshed and getting more possession but neither side could break through some determined defences. Once again it was Newbold that seemed to get more on top as the game progressed and from some strong ball carries from the forwards with Ben Dawes and Duzza Ziba being prominent until skipper Ben Thompson gathered the ball and crashed over under the posts to score a try converted by Ethan Wookey - 3-14. Newbold were now on top and began to move the ball though the line and so it was fitting to see Josh Hutchinson having a fine game at centre scoring from a well worked move. This try was once again converted by Ethan Wookey - 3-21. Now in the final 10 mins of the game the Bold pressed for the bonus point try and it looked likely after Josh Cooke and Jamie Mapletoft combined in a move only to see it breakdown on the home side try line with the ball desperately hacked away up field by Wolverhampton who gathered the loose ball and scored a converted try - 10-21. Still time left but Newbold were denied that final bonus point try.
