NEWPORT SALOP 35 BOURNVILLE 28
Report by Billie Page
Another chapter in the Bournville v Newport Salop saga was written on Saturday and the Chocos will be disappointed with the two-point return, knowing that this was a missed opportunity. Injuries and unavailability in the backs saw first team league debuts for Josh Arimoro, Archie Grimshaw and Tom Cain while Aaron Esiri would also make his debut off the bench.
Bourns lost the toss and played down the slope and immediately set up camp in the hosts half. The pack set about their business and began to assert their dominance with a series of catch drives but Bournville spurned the opportunity as a player going off their feet in securing allowed Newport to clear. It would take until close to the 15-minute mark for Bournville to get the scoreboard ticking over, when a sharp break by Ben Tibbetts saw ball recycled and Owen Williams crossing in the far corner. Mitch McGahan adding the conversion for a 7-0 lead. A penalty from the kick off allowed Newport into the Bourns half for the first time to exert some pressure but the defence held strong and a loose ball was kicked thru by Tom Cain resulting in a penalty for the visitors and McGahan duly dispatched the shot at goal for a 10-0 lead. Newport lost their centre Perry after he took Owen Williams out in the air. Some more defensive pressure saw another penalty and the result was the same, McGahan adding 3 to make it 13-0.
Despite their dominance, a series of mistakes allowed Jacob Leonard to cut the deficit to 13-3. Newport grew into the game and started to build some territory and possession and fly half George Castledine slipped a tackle and forced his way over with Leonard adding the extras. Another Bourns penalty saw Newport force a 5m line out and with the drive seemingly dead, 2nd rower Nick Murphy sent 3 people for hot dogs with a dummy and turn and crashed over for 15-13 half time score line.
Newport, playing with the slop now, were in full pomp and another missed tackle in midfield saw prop Jack Wells crash over under the posts and Leonard followed up his conversion with a simple penalty just after to make it 25-13 just 7 minutes into the 2nd half. Bourns stemmed the tide and the forwards rolled up their sleeves and had the Newport pack on skates back up the slope with their driving line out. After another Newport penalty and yellow card, Jamie Harding was the beneficiary at the back of the dominate pack to dot down in the corner for his first in Bournville colours. McGahan was just wide with the conversion, but despite their hard work to get back into it, Bourns immediately let Newport re-establish their lead although their centre Bailey was the beneficiary of a block that wouldn’t look out of place in the NFL. The officials missed this and winger de Jager crossed and the Leonard conversion made it 32-18 with 20 to go. Bourns again pressed and were in the flow with both their attack and defence at this stage. A rushed clearance by Newport was out on the full and quick thinking by fullback Williams saw him find Tibbetts with a quick line out and a series of 1-2s later, Tibbetts was in next to the uprights. Rhys Williams taking over the kicking duties fluffed his lines and the score remained 32-23. Bourns were guilty again of immediately letting Newport back on to the score sheet with a penalty and Leonard stepped again to extend the lead again to 35-23. Chances went begging as another good drive seemed destined for another try but Tibbetts had a case of white line fever and decided to take the ball off the big boys and surge himself to the line, ignoring the two unmarked Bournville players outside him in the process and knocking the ball on. Newport broke out and Cain and Williams were able to get back to spare Ben’s blushes. Harding eventually got his 2nd try and Bournville’s 4th after some more good work from the forwards and Rhys Williams was unlucky as the conversion just drifted wide to make it 35-28. Bourns had one more chance from the kick off but a knock-on in contact enabled Newport to clear to touch and take the win on the day.
Some good performances notably in the pack and despite this historically being a tough place for Bournville to get any form of points, the team will know they let the chance slip to get a rare win at the Showground.
3,2,1 for the day
1- Steve Handy; ran himself into the ground and left his mark with a couple of bruising shots on the Newport attackers.
2- James Burgoyne; the full 80mins and was outstanding in his scrummaging giving both Newport tight heads a torrid time.
3 and Star Man- Jamie Harding; Two tries on the day and his set piece work was outstanding and some big contributions around the park on attack and defence. A quiet word with Tibbetts will no doubt be had after he stole a potential hat-trick away from him.
Another North Midlands derby to look forward to next week as Luctonians visit Avery Fields.
Through the viewfinder
An excellent match report that mostly mirrored what I saw.
The first 20 mins and maybe a bit more saw me positioned at the end we were attacking – no need to move. Unlucky not to have a few more points on the board. After that it was hit and miss as to where the game was going from my point of view. I tend to look for the ‘running towards me’ shots wherever possible.
Not a huge number of photos, but a few reasonable ones, so please take a look HERE.
All being well I will see you at the Luctonians match.
Sully – Bournville’s always friendly (and free) photographer
