Sat 12 Mar 2022
Newbold entertained confident runaway league leaders Lichfield at Parkfield Road and in spite of enforced team changers (seven in all from last week) were looking to upset the form book writes Phil Fereday.
From the kick off Lichfield had possession and worked their way up field and scored a converted try after only two minutes into the game this was not the start Newbold wanted but soon after having won good lineout ball Newbold moved the ball into Lichfield red zone and it was Jack Toolen making his first team debut scoring a try that was converted by Jamie Mapletoft 7-7. Lichfield again hit back and scored a converted try. It was again Newbold who were keeping the ball in hand and swiftly changing the direction of attack until Manny Sidhu with a blistering burst of speed crossed the line to touchdown with Jamie Mapletoft added the extra points 14-14.In the next period the visitors who now looked to be taking control of the game scored two unconverted tries in quick succession 14-24.Down but not out the Newbold men regathered themselves and it was them that wrestled back control and for the remaining period before half time added a penalty from Jamie Mapletoft and from the best move of the match so far with the ball being transferred through the hands of forwards and backs saw the lively Manny Sidhu beating two defenders to dive over in the corner for an unconverted try making the score 22-24 at half time. Newbold started the second half well and after a period of pressure Jamie Mapletoft kicked a penalty to put Newbold in front for the first time in the match 25-24. In this breath-taking match the next period was about hard runners and heavy hitting tackles with both sides showing no sign of breaking through the defences but it was Lichfield that finally found a gap to score a converted try 25-31. Once again Newbold rallied and came back at the visitors with penalties gained from the scrum with Newbold bossing a far heavier visitors’ pack both penalties from Jamie Mapletoft taking his personal points for the game to sixteen to make it 31-31. In the closing minutes of the game Lichfield scored a converted try but still in the last play of the game saw the Bold desperately trying to get that one more score but it was not to be. Once again Newbold displayed grit, determination and a great deal of talent to serve up a superb game of rugby to their loyal supporters. Up the Bold!
Please enter your page detail here. This can be HTML or text. To edit click the first menu icon on the small HTML menu that appears when you click on this text. Please use the elements on the right if you wish to construct a richer page content with headers, images and layout grids.
