Newmarket 31 – 7 Ely

Straight from the opening drop out, Newmarket had Ely under pressure. Following good driving by Ethan Brown, first Ben Jeacock and then Chris Le got over the try line only to be held up. However, it was third time lucky as the rock-solid scrum gave Joe Stafford the opportunity to crash over. His conversion was the first of three successful kicks.

It was closely followed by a second try as Tom Chandler at scrum-half picked up from a Newmarket heel and got close enough to the line for Le to have the simple job of diving over.

It looked as if Newmarket might rack up a cricket score but they then started giving away a series of penalties for infringements, around the ruck and at the line-out, that allowed Ely to clear pressure away from their lines. When the home side did get close to the try line they too often failed to spot the overlaps and Ely snuffed out the direct attacks.

However, Ely found it difficult to lift the pressure entirely and the Newmarket backs were quickly on them as they struggled to gather ball from some excellent territorial kicking from Stafford and Nathan Buckle. First Gwilym Davies caught the opposition winger behind his own line and then Iain Moffat chased down the ball, allowing Tom Wills to drive forward and present a short range scoring opportunity to Dan Bristow.

With Lewis Heap on at scrum-half there was time for a fourth try before half-time. The forwards drove the ball from near the half-way line to within ten metres. Heap darted for the line and Stafford was there to snaffle the ball and score another short-range try.

With the wind in their faces, Newmarket found it much harder going in the second half. A re-invigorated Ely side camped near their try line and crossed it twice in the first ten minutes. Their No. 8 was unlucky to knock-on the first time, but they soon put that right from a tapped penalty for a seven point score.

Newmarket soon returned the favour as strong runs by Moffat and driving by the front row of Ollie Sanusi Bartlett, Dan Downing and Wills allowed the last of these to cross the line, only to be penalised for a double movement in getting the ball down. Although a number of backs moves then petered out, Newmarket were soon back near the line, with newcomers Matt Marsh and Anton Phillips heavily involved in driving mauls, and this time man of the match Bristow was on hand to pick up his second try of the day.

The home side had a couple of further scoring chances before the final whistle sounded, but were foiled by the Ely full-back who first dumped Bristow into touch and then repeated the performance to thwart a strong run by Toby Colletta on the wing.

Biggleswade 32 - 7 Newmarket

After last week's impressive 15 point win against Peterborough, Newmarket were brought down to earth this week by a very competitive Biggleswade team and their own under par performance.

From the start of the first match between these teams for five years, the Bigglewade backs ran the show and it was only last ditch defence that held them at bay until ten minutes into the game when they scored left of the posts.

Nothing was working for Newmarket as passes failed to go to hand, tackle after tackle was missed and lineouts were lost. However, they saw a glimmer of hope when they finally got close to the Biggleswade line, due to good work by Anton Phillips, and Dan Bristow took the recycled ball to crash over. Joe Stafford converted the try for the away side to take a two point lead.

He really has scored

Unfortunately that was the last serious threat that Newmarket posed. As the game progressed Biggleswade also dominated the scrums – normally a Newmarket strength - and judicious kicking kept their opponents on the back foot. For most of the second half Newmarket simply couldn't get out of their own half as they faced wave after wave of attacks.

Phillips and Ben Jeacock showed how tackles should be made but even when Newmarket got temporarily on the front foot they found themselves on the wrong end of a number of close refereeing decisions. Biggleswade hardly made a handling error and their strong running allowed them to put a further five tries on the board for a well-deserved win.

Newmarket 15 – 0 Peterborough

These well-matched teams continued from where they left off in 3 encounters last season with another closely contested and thoroughly watchable game. Traditionally Newmarket have been slow starters but this year pre-season training seems to have paid off as they put in a ferocious performance and maintained a high tempo right to the end of the game.
The basis for the win was laid by the Newmarket forwards who dominated their opponents and frequently stole Peterborough ball from scrums and lineouts. This gave the backs early opportunities to run at the opposition and it was a quick tap from a penalty that allowed new recruit, Tom Chandler, playing at scrum half, to run half the length of the pitch and score in the corner for a 5 point lead at half-time.

This was only one of a number of champagne moments that made the match sparkle. Particularly notable were the strong tackling and running of Iain Moffat; Ashley Reid at fullback gathering a dangerous bouncing ball at full speed in order to clear the danger from the advancing Peterborough attack; the terrier-like determination of Anton Phillips as he somehow wrestled and wriggled his way forward out of rucks; and the equally good defensive qualities of Peterborough as they repeatedly held up Newmarket players who had crossed their try line.

In the second half Newmarket’s superior fitness began to pay dividends and they benefited from a rising penalty count. From one infringement Dan Bristow took the short ball ten metres out and a simple pass inside allowed man of the match, Joe Stafford, to score left of the posts and double the lead.

It wasn’t until the last couple of minutes that Newmarket’s territorial advantage was turned into further points. The ball went along the backs to Toby Colletta who ignored the pleas of his team mates to pass as he took on the entire Peterborough defence to go to ground two metres in front of the posts. As the ball came out of the ruck Ethan Brown popped up with it to dive over for the second time in the match. This time he was able to get the ball down and score.

A great start to the season for Newmarket, marred only by an injury to Jack Watson who played with a fractured bone in his leg for the last quarter of the match and will now be out for up to six weeks.

Trip to Twickenham

The U15s had a very enjoyable trip to Twickenham on 4th September to see the double header that opened the new Premiership season.

Traffic problems meant that we only arrived in time for the second half of the match between London Irish and Saracens. In the second match, Wasps versus Harlequins, the crowd was distracted from the play for at least 5 minutes as Mexican wave after wave rippled round and round the stadium. The air was thick with the cardboard beer holders as they were spun into space from the upper tiers.

Chris contemplates breaking something later

While waiting for the homeward traffic to thin, Chris Stafford showed the boys how it was done with a flat out tackle on a bush. When the pints of anaesthetic had worn off he discovered that he had broken his arm. First injury of the season to the parents.

Many thanks to Louise Buckle for making all the arrangements for a great day out. 

More photos here