Saffron Walden 0 - 36 Newmarket

In the first half of the match Newmarket played their most complete rugby of the season. The forwards continued their form of recent weeks to set a solid platform, but the backs also came into their own with a series of flowing moves that resulted in a number of scores.

The first couple of plays were rather scrappy with Newmarket knocking on from the drop out. The Saffron Walden scrum was solid but the away side gave them no time on the ball and quickly recovered it with some fierce tackling. Scrum-half Lewis Heap put a foot into touch as he darted for the line but Walden had already infringed. From the short range tap penalty the ball went to Jack Watson and the inside centre scored under the posts. Joe Stafford added the extras for a seven point lead.

Newmarket were soon back in the opposition half as Nathan Buckle, Dan Bristow and man of the match Anton Philips drove the ball forward before it was spun out to the wing. Unfortunately the pass went slightly forward. Gwilym Davies recovered it after the scrum, first tackling the outside centre and then pouncing on the loose ball. Stafford's chip forward went slightly too far and ran dead but from the 22 drop out Newmarket worked it back to the Walden line and slick passing from Heap saw Toby Colletta score right of the posts. Stafford just squeezed over the conversion.

Newmarket almost scored again direct from the re-start. Bristow charged forward before the ball went to Levi Jagropp who broke the line. His pass went out through Stafford and Watson to Davies who couldn't quite find the final pass that would have given Colletta a certain second try. It was a temporary let off for the home side as Dan Downing wriggled close to the line before Stafford jinked past the defence to touch down.

Saffron Walden were finding it difficult to clear their lines and Lenny Gray ran the ball back strongly from full-back. The forwards then took over. The front row had needed some reorganisation following a foot injury to Tom Wills.  Oliver Sanusi-Bartlett was joined by Downing who moved to prop and Philips at hooker, but it proved an equally effective combination. The back row of Ben Jeacock, Buckle and Jamie Griggs continued to rampage forward and it was a simple task for Bristow to crash over from a couple of metres on the stroke of half-time.

Newmarket started the second half as they finished the first. Philips secured the drop out ball and it was quickly in the hands of Matt Marsh who produced a surprising turn of speed for a second row forward to outpace the Walden backs and score in the corner. His run was significantly straighter than the route he took to get to the ground in the first place.

It would have been easy for the home side to have become demoralised but they deserved a great deal of credit for digging deep. For the rest of the half they challenged Newmarket's overall superiority. Their full-back and No. 8 in particular led by example with strong, straight running leading to missed tackles by the away side and pressure on the Newmarket line.

With a number of rolling substitutions disrupting the organisation of Newmarket's backs, the game became rather scrappy and both sides were guilty of knock-ons and infringements when in good scoring positions. Five minutes from time Newmarket forced the home team to give away a penalty in front of their own posts. Tom Chandler, on at scrum-half, gave them no time to reorganise and nipped over for the final try, converted by Stafford.

Saffron Walden nearly had the last word and were unlucky not to score following great driving by their forwards. The faintest of knock-ons was spotted by the referee to bring the match to a close.