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.