Merry Christmas & A Happy New 2008

Great fun at the final training session of 2007. Two teams of kids and parents playing rugby baseball. Someone definitely won! Thanks also to Raymond for his guest coaching appearance.

No more sessions now until Sunday 6th January, when it is likely that the team will be playing away at Ipswich. This is not definitely confirmed yet, so keep checking your email or this site. Click here or see the 'Rugby links' section for travel directions.

Season's greetings to everyone.

Training: Sunday 16th December

If you have a copy of the fixture list that shows Saffron Walden Festival for 16th December, please note that this event is not happening.

It will be training at home next Sunday. It is planned to run a fun session to end the year. If you want to have a say in exactly what happens, make sure you are at Tuesday night training and come with some suggestions. The coaches will try and fit in your ideas.

Match report Newmarket 14 - 7 Ely

On a chilly Sunday morning the slope and the weather made this match the clichéd ‘game of two halves’. Kicking off up hill and into the wind Newmarket made a good start, immediately recovering the ball before driving Ely into touch on their 20 metre line. Though winning the ball from the throw, they then lost possession and an untidy series of rucks and mauls set the tone for the rest of the half. The forwards on each side proved to be evenly matched but, with few opportunities for Newmarket behind the scrum, Ely’s slicker handling along their back line helped give them a distinct territorial advantage. 5 minutes into the game a driving maul by the Newmarket forwards ended with a knock on 15 metres from their line. From the resulting scrum Ely went down the blindside and narrowly avoided stepping over the whitewash to touch down in the right-hand corner.

Following the successful conversion both sides tried to bring some pace to the game, with a couple of good runs from Iain Moffat for Newmarket, and Ely, more often than not, opting for short tap penalties. However, in difficult handling conditions the moves frequently resulted in minor infringements and the half ended with no further scores.

From the second half drop out Newmarket made clear their intention to make use of the slope. The ball was gathered by Christopher Le on his own 20 metre line and his jinking run carved through the Ely defence and left his own support players trailing in his wake. He was unfortunate to knock the ball forward as Ely mounted a last-ditch defence 5 metres from their own line. However, in the ensuing series of scrums the Newmarket forwards took control and drove over for scrum-half, Anton Philips, to claim the try.

After the re-start Newmarket benefited from a series of penalties and a second powerful run from Daniel Bristow seemed destined to result in another score until he was very well held up by the Ely forwards. From the resulting set-piece man of the match Philips spotted a gap in the defence and dashed over for his second try. Both Newmarket tries were converted by Oliver Green.

In the last play of the game, looking for one last score, Newmarket opted for a long kick back and chase from the drop out but speedster and fullback Lewis Heap was unable to beat the Ely defence to the ball as they ran out to close the game.

Match against Ely: Sunday 9th

There is now a match against Ely U12 at home this Sunday. The match starts at 10am so please be at the club by 9.30am.

Wendens Ambo Match Report

Unfortunately Wendens Ambo were unable to field an Under 12 team, so it was Sunday morning training in the pouring rain and whipping wind.

Tuesday training as usual at 6.45pm and next Sunday (9th December) is also training.

It is hoped to go to Saffron Walden for the festival on Sunday 16th December. This is not yet confirmed, so watch this space

Wendens Ambo : Sunday 2nd December 2007

The Under 12s are playing Wendens Ambo at home on the 2nd December. Please aim to arrive for 10am.

Don't forget Tuesday night training. 6.45 to 8.00pm at Scaltback School.

Match reports: Sunday 11th November 2007

Shelford 7 – 7 Newmarket

The first half showed each team to be equally matched. Newmarket had an excellent defence with the pack working very hard to try and win ball in open play. A good drive forward and solo effort by Daniel Bristow nearly resulted with the first try of the game but Shelford’s defence held strong leaving the half time score 0-0.

Newmarket dominated early in the second half taking advantage of Shelford’s mistakes resulting in Nathan Buckle scoring the opening try, which was converted by Oliver Green. Shelford then mounted a come back which Newmarket managed to hold off incredibly well but eventually the Shelford backs managed to break the deadlock with a dazzling run by their centre and winger culminating in an outstanding try at the corner post. This was also converted leaving the score equal at 7-7 with only minutes to play. Again Shelford attacked the Newmarket line but fantastic tackling by the away team especially Gwyllam Davis prevented Shelford from breaking through to score. In the last minute of play Newmarket won a free kick which was taken quickly and again the powerhouse Bristow ran at the defence of Shelford from about 50 yards and got to within inches of the try line but was prevented from scoring at the last play.

The match ended in a draw and it appeared that all the extra training had finally paid off and now Newmarket under 12’s are a force to be reckoned with at any level of rugby.

Newmarket 0 – 21 Bedford

Newmarket found it hard to get into the match after such a huge performance in the first, most important game.

Bedford forwards dominated the loose ball and scored two good tries before half time.

During the second half there was some good defending by Bedford preventing Newmarket from replying.

Unfortunately Bedford put one more try past the tiring Newmarket boys leaving the final score 21-0,which under the circumstances was a very good performance bearing in mind the fact that Bedford has a school of excellence and some very experienced players to assist with their youth team development.

Match reports: Sunday 4th November 2007

Newmarket 7 - 0 Ely

The opening match proved largely to be a battle of the forwards between two evenly matched sides.

Kicking off down the hill Newmarket had the better of the early exchanges. After 3 minutes prop, Daniel Bristow, stole the ball from an Ely lineout and broke Ely tackles to go over from 10 metres for what was to prove the only try of the match. Oliver Green converted.

Taking short taps from penalties Newmarket’s forwards came close to scoring a further two tries in the first half but were kept at bay by some brave last-ditch defence from Ely on their own line.

In the second half both sets of backs came more into the play. Though Newmarket enjoyed a slight territorial advantage, neither side was able to make any further breakthroughs. Despite some darting runs from Ely’s, Will Marshall, Newmarket held out for the win.

Newmarket 35 - 0 Stowmarket

The opening exchanges in this match were all about running rugby.

From the first drop out Newmarket’s full-back, Lewis Heap, went on a swerving run from his own 10 metre line only to be bundled into touch 5 metres from the Stowmarket try line. 2 minutes later the Stowmarket fullback returned the favour, side-stepping several Newmarket players before touching down in the left-hand corner, only to have the try ruled out for a foot in touch some 15 metres back.

At that point it seemed that the match would again be a closely fought battle between two evenly-matched sides. Despite Newmarket consistently losing ball at their scrums and lineouts to the more disciplined set plays of Stowmarket, they gained territory in the loose with their eventual man of the match, Ben Jeacock, first to every breakdown.

This territorial advantage paid off in the fifth minute with Newmarket taking the ball against the head and scrum half, Anton Philips, darting over the Stowmarket line from 5 metres out. Oliver Green added the first of his five conversions.

The match significantly changed a moment later with an injury to Stowmarket’s influential fullback who had to leave the field. From a subsequent lineout Bristow broke through the Stowmarket defence before passing out to Chris Le who went over for his very debut try on the stroke of half-time.

In the second half the Newmarket forwards took complete control of the game. Ethan Brown went over after good interchanges between forwards and backs. Then Jeacock rounded off the game with passes to put over both Le and Brown for their second tries.

Newmarket 7 – 7 Haverhill: Sunday 14th October 2007

Newmarket blooded all their new players in this fixture giving some of the more experienced players a rest. Daniel Abbs, Conner Croxton and Robert Shannon all had their first experience in the front row ably supported by Christopher Le at second row. The forwards took time to take shape and found themselves a try down after 3 minutes. Their strength however told as they constantly drove Haverhill off their ball and disrupted the play preventing more scoring opportunities. In the second half the backs came in to the play as the forwards settled into a pattern winning more possession allowing Oliver Green to distribute the ball to Gwilym Davies and debutant Jack Watson when with the last move of the game fed new full-back Lewis Heap to dodge four tackles to score allowing Green to make an easy conversion to level the scores.

Cambridgeshire County Cup: Sunday 7th October 2007

Newmarket Under 12's were unlucky not to progress beyond the group stages with a solid all round team performance which included some relatively new players in the squad with some excellent support from the "veterans".

Newmarket v Royston

From the start, Newmarket pressured Royston in all areas. The team’s commitment to training paid off as the forwards scrummaged the opposition off the park and in quick succession Nathan Buckle took scrums against the head driving Royston deep into their own half. A further strong scrum resulted in a loose ball coming out for number eight Ben Jaycock to dive onto to score the only try of the half. The second half Newmarket's forwards dominate which led to Royston kicking away possession. New recruit Lewis Heap linked up with Thomas Locke to counter-attack from deep in the Newmarket half. Joe Stafford was in support and thwarted five tackles to score in the corner. Good allround teamwork helped towards a Newmarket win.

Newmarket v Diss

Both teams started strong with Newmarket forcing the play. Good tacking from Daniel Bristow, Joe Stafford and Nathan Buckle were breaking down the Diss attacks. Despite their size and technical advantage the opposition constantly infringed and fly-half Oliver Green kept punishing them by kicking long range penalties back deep into their half. The second half saw Diss struggle to break through and only a lucky interception handed the win to Diss.

Newmarket v Shelford

Shelford started the stronger team and ran in an early try. Newmarket came close but a tight Shelford defence kept them at bay. Some good tackling by Anton Phillips and Ethan Brown in the second half was not enough to stop Shelford scoring late on.

Newmarket v St Neots

The first half was a closely matched affair with neither team able to score. St Neots turned up the heat in the second half and broke through to score. Newmarket fought back with Ian Moffatt making some superb catches to take the pressure off Newmarket, but time ran out.