Peterborough 10 – 7 Newmarket

Much of the first half of this match was played in the middle third of the pitch as both teams struggled to dominate. The weight of Peterborough's pack was matched by the determination of the Newmarket forwards, with their captain, Jack Watson, leading by example to receive the man of the match award. Neither side was able to make good use of the ball and any opportunities that came to the backs were quickly snuffed out by their opposite numbers. It was no surprise that the game was scoreless at the break, though Newmarket were hampered by an injury to scrum-half Lewis Heap that ruled him out of the remainder of the match.

Newmarket started brightly in the second half and penned Peterborough near their own try line. With secure ball coming from the scrums, winger Iain Moffat was within metres of touching down on two occasions following charging runs by Joe Stafford and Nathan Buckle. The other Newmarket backs were equally committed with both Gwilym Davies and Tom Locke forcing turnovers in the tackle. However, failure to convert pressure into points cost Newmarket dear as Peterborough regained the ball near the halfway line and against the run of play their speedy outside centre sprinted clear for an unconverted breakaway try.

Newmarket responded strongly. Despite struggling with an injury, hooker Dan Downing and the props Tom Wills and Oliver Sanusi-Bartlett continued to secure loose ball that took them close to the home team's line. Peterborough did well to keep out a charge from Dan Bristow well-supported by Ben Jeacock and Ethan Brown, but as players were sucked in the ball came out to Buckle who straightened the line and laid it back for Stafford to crash over under the posts and notch up a two point lead.

It remained that way until the last play of the match. Facing a borrowed stand-in scrum half the Peterborough forwards were able to steal ball tapped back from the lineout. Twice they crossed the try line only to be held up by last-ditch Newmarket defence. On the second occasion the home side were awarded a penalty and this time Newmarket were unable to prevent the No. 13 from wriggling through for his second try and a narrow Peterborough victory.

Newmarket 14 – 14 Bury St Edmunds

Against a strong and so far undefeated Bury squad, Newmarket spent much of the match defending in their own half. Despite Bury frequently getting close to the line the Newmarket forwards scrapped hard to disrupt possession and the backs put in a series of try saving tackles.

It wasn't until the second half that Bury managed to cross the line from short range as they stretched the Newmarket defence from a five metre scrum. That added to the converted try scored by Bury in the first half.

When that first try went in it looked as if Newmarket would really struggle, but on the rare occasions when they were able to get on the front foot they looked very dangerous as both backs and forwards kept the ball alive. Following great link play Newmarket got very close to the Bury try line only be to be kept out. From a subsequent scrum Dan Bristow proved unstoppable, brushing off five players to crash over the line and end the first half with the match tied at 7 points each.

Newmarket started the second half in similar style and this time it was Chris Le who evaded the Bury defence to score under the posts. Newmarket retained the lead until the second Bury try was brilliantly converted from the touchline. In the last minute Bury thought they had snatched the match, only to see the score ruled out as the ball was not grounded.

Woodbridge 21 - 26 Newmarket

This was reported to be a fantastic performance by Newmarket in the driving rain.

21 points down at half-time, the match seemed already over. The second half proved an entirely different matter. Newmarket not only kept Woodbridge at bay but scored 4 tries (3 converted by Joe Stafford) to snatch victory.

Unfortunately no full match report or photographs are available for this fixture.

Newmarket 33 - 10 Saffron Walden

With four tries in the match one could be forgiven for thinking that this was entirely the Dan Bristow show. In fact, despite the excellence of the second row's performance, it was founded on  all round team play that was only spoilt by the high number of penalties conceded.

Although the initial kick off did not carry 10 metres Newmarket quickly had Saffron Walden pinned near their own line thanks to some slick running and passing between the backs. Stealing the ball  from a Walden lineout Bristow almost touched down, only to lose the ball over the line. However, the ball was quickly re-gathered by Newmarket from loose play and this time there was no stopping him.

Failing to gather the ball from the drop out, Newmarket found themselves on the back foot but strong defence allowed fly half, Joe Stafford, and inside half, Nathan Buckle, to make the first of a number of surging runs that cleared the danger. The two wings ,Tom Locke and Iain Moffat combined well to take the home side into Walden territory. The decision by scrum half, Lewis Heap, to take a quick tap penalty looked to have been the wrong option as he ran into a wall of defenders but, again, from the resulting scrum Bristow proved unstoppable.

Newmarket indiscipline in front of their own posts gave Walden the opportunity to reduce the arrears almost immediately. Two penalties in quick succession left them disorganised and unable to prevent a short range try by the inside half which was not converted.

End to end play meant that the home side were again within touching distance of the opposition line. Bristow could have scored himself but unselfishly passed to Gwilym Davies who gathered the low ball only to see it knocked from his hands by last-ditch defence when within inches of touching down.

Newmarket ended the half defending a series of tap penalties as they repeatedly failed to retreat ten metres. They gave up half the length of the pitch before, once again, the forwards disrupted Walden ball to give Stafford the opportunity to kick to touch and end the first half.

Early exchanges in the second half were all one way. Penalties from constant infringements by the Newmarket forwards joining the ruck from the side were tapped by Walden who made steady progress towards the line. However, just when it looked as if they were getting the upper hand, that man Bristow stepped in again and picked the ball up on his own 22 to outpace the defence and score under the posts.

Despite Newmarket going down to 14 men with a quarter of the match remaining. as Locke was forced to leave the field with illness, Bristow's fourth try followed very quickly as good running by Moffat and Stafford got Newmarket to within a few metres of the line to give him his shortest range chance of the day. Stafford converted all four tries.

However, the home side continued to make life difficult for themselves and a further series of penalties gave the Walden forwards a chance to pick and drive from a lineout for their second try.

There was just time for the Newmarket forwards to regain the ball from the kick off and this time it was Jack Watson who showed a blistering turn of speed to leave the Walden players trailing in his wake and complete the scoring.

Stafford received the man of the match award in recognition of the way in which he controlled the game. Special mentions also go to recent recruits Ashley Reid and Tom Wills for their all round contributions to the team's play.

Newmarket 17 - 7 Swaffham

From the outset Newmarket were up for the challenge with the forwards piling on the pressure. However a big Swaffham free kick from close to their own touch line caught Newmarket by surprise allowing Swaffham to break through and snatch an early lead.

Newmarket re-applied the pressure instantly and some good movement between Chris Lee and Oliver Sanusi Bartlett gave Daniel Bristow the opportunity to power throughthe Swaffham defence scoring the first Newmarket try with Joe Stafford converting.

Despite an explosive run from Jack Watson, and Daniel Bristow being tantalisingly close to getting his second try of the game, the score remained 7-7 at half time largely due to some excellent Swaffham tackling.

In the second half Newmarket were determined not to give Swaffham any chances with the majority of play being in the opponent’s half. Ben Jeacock came frustratingly close to scoring but shortly afterwards Daniel Downing powered his way through the Swaffham defence to get a well deserved try.

 The remainder of the match followed a very similar course with some big driving by the Newmarket forwards allowing Daniel Downing to get his second try of the game setting the final score at 17-7 to Newmarket.