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.
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