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.