Sunday 31 October 2010

Training: Tuesday 2nd November

Tuesday's training will be taken by Dave Sayer, First Team Coach. Ideally we need the whole squad to benefit from this opportunity, so please make sure you attend. Usual time 6.30 - 8.00pm

Next Sunday's match is away at Shelford.

Swaffham 7 – 24 Newmarket

With both teams nearer full strength this match was much more closely fought than the reverse fixture a week earlier, though the result went the same way.

Much of the first half was a rather scrappy affair with Newmarket dominating open play but losing out in the rucks to Swaffham's more determined forwards. Nevertheless the home team found it very difficult to escape from their own half and were pinned in their own 22 for long periods.


Having held up Newmarket over the line in the second minute, Swaffham's defence couldn't keep them out again shortly afterwards. Ashley Reid returned a clearing kick from the home team. Gwilym Davies pressured the full-back, allowing Dan Downing and Ben Jeacock to move the ball forward. When it was smuggled back to Dan Bristow he handed off the full-back to score in the corner.


Joe Stafford missed the conversion but his penalty to the corner soon put Newmarket back in scoring range. However, a number of handling errors and penalty offences of their own halted  progress. In the best team move of the match, though, Ollie Sanusi-Bartlett, Downing and Ben Jeacock picked and drove to within 5 metres of the try line. Jeacock's pass to scrum-half, Lewis Heap, was slickly flicked on first to Stafford then to Levi Jagropp, and the outside centre touched down close to the posts. This time Stafford made no mistake with the conversion for a 12 point lead at half-time.


Any complacency Newmarket might have had was quickly dispelled as Swaffham's never-say-die attitude forced a 5 metre scrum from which they crashed over under the posts. The away side responded in the best possible way and within a minute they had again extended their lead. Bristow took the ball from a tap penalty and handed it off to Anton Phillips who wriggled into the corner despite the close attention of four defenders.


As the second half progressed Newmarket increasingly dominated, with man of the match Tom Wills and flanker Nathan Buckle influential in the loose. The backs had been outstanding in defence but now got chances to run at the opposition. Toby Colletta, Jack Felton and Reid all tested the Swaffham wingers. But it was Jeacock who set up the final try, getting to within a few metres and slipping the ball for Stafford to touch down. Reid converted and then, full of confidence, sold an outrageous dummy in a charge along the touchline shortly before the full-time whistle.

Sunday 24 October 2010

Newmarket 39 - 0 Swaffham

Newmarket had a number of regular players missing from this convincing victory against an equally depleted Swaffham side. However, that didn't stop them producing an excellent all-round performance in which a number of more recent recruits took their opportunity to shine.



The home team were on the scoreboard almost immediately as good chasing from the kick off set up Anton Phillips to score in the corner. With Phillips and Gwilym Davies putting Swaffham under pressure as they followed up Nathan Buckle's positional kicking, it was not long before Newmarket set up another try opportunity.  Swaffham were forced to give away a penalty and Dan Bristow proved unstoppable from short range. For the second time Joe Stafford slotted the conversion from the touchline.



The away side found it difficult to get the ball out of their territory. When they did they found themselves on the receiving end of some strong running from the Newmarket backs. Lenny Gray reliably gathered the ball at full-back and returned it with interest. Jack Watson added solidity on his return from injury with a broken leg ,and his running and tackling was enough to earn him the man of the match award. However, it was Levi Jagropp, playing his first club match, who made the most obvious impact. Picking up the loose ball, the winger was held up over the line. From the subsequent set piece, scrum half Lewis Heap spotted the blindside opportunity and this time Jagropp could not be denied.



With the front row of Dan Downing, Phillips and Ollie Sanusi-Bartlett forming a rock solid platform at the scrums, in the second half the backs continued to break the line and both Iain Moffat and Jamie Griggs were unlucky not to convert long range runs. However, it was another run from Griggs and some excellent handling that allowed Stafford to score the fourth try.



The forwards didn't want to be left out and determined scrapping by Downing and Ben Jeacock allowed second row Matt Marsh to stretch out a long arm and score. Shortly afterwards it was Tom Chandler's chance to to pick up the loose ball from a Swaffham scrum and this time he was able to evade the chasing defenders and touch down after a 70 metre run.


In recent matches Newmarket had been let down by poor passing, but that appeared to be a thing of the past as the ball again went smoothly out to the wing and Jagropp outpaced the defence to cap a fine performance. Despite conceding the score Swaffham continued to show 100% effort and surprised Stafford by charging down his conversion attempt.

The final score didn't flatter Newmarket, but Swaffham were unlucky not to have put some points on the board themselves.

Thanks to Tim Davies for taking the photographs.

Friday 15 October 2010

Sunday 17th October

No match this week, so training at 10.30am at Scaltback on Sunday morning.

Please note that next Tuesday's training will be taken by Dave Sayer, Newmarket First Team Coach. Please make sure you attend, if at all possible.

Sunday 10 October 2010

Sudbury 34 - 5 Newmarket

Every member of the squad did something good during the match. Unfortunately Newmarket's individual approach was no match for Sudbury's team effort. A disappointing day saw Newmarket out-tackled, out-passed, out-thought and out-played.

Newmarket's only points were a second half try from Joe Stafford.

Thursday 7 October 2010

Sunday 3rd October

The next match is on Sunday 10th October, away at Sudbury.

Please arrive at their ground to start warm up at 10am. Kickoff is at 11am.

Let's hope that we get to play this week, following the disappointment of turning up at Bury on Sunday only to find that the match had been cancelled. Some mis-communication between the clubs, apparently.

At least it allowed me to get to Shelford for the closing stages of the U11 County Cup. Newmarket were very unlucky to lose to the home team in the final. They were defeated by a golden try in the last play of extra time. Nevertheless, a fantastic effort considering it was the team's first competitive outing of the season.

Newmarket & Shelford U11 County Cup Finalists