|
|
Under 9s - Cotswold Tour 2007  Squad: Fergus Mulhern, Lewis Gillespie, Matthew Jackson, Jamie Jones, Orla Leadbeater, Amelia Collins, Tom Higgins, Tom Franklin, Dan Wasdell, Nick Withers, Josh Stork
Coaches: Steve Jackson, Jon Stork, Jim Franklin, Sam Withers
Saturday v Widden Old Boys - 20 v 20
The under 9s opened the tour with an uncharacteristic flourish as Fergus Mulhern made the most of the Newport kick off to pace for the line and open the account. Widden came straight back and responded with a try in a similar vein leaving the Newport defence staring at each other. Newport came back again and pushed Widden back against their try line, but were unable to capitalise for a while despite strong play by Amelia Collins and Tom Higgins, before Matthew Jackson picked up a loose ball just short of the try line and completed the simple task.
Widden then stepped up their game and drove Newport back into their own half and kept them there for sometime with sound defence and excellent tackling from Tom Franklin and Jamie Jones. Newport succumbed to three further scores, before responding first with Lewis Gillespie, who broke sharply on the right ftom a pass by Dan Wasdell, dodged two tackles before crossing the line, and then secondly with another from Fergus following one of his hallmark cross field dashes.
Sunday v Evesham – Final Score 35 v 25
 The game against Evesham was always going to be a tough battle as the narrow pitch meant that the game would be about forward strength and muscle. Evesham made the most of this in the first half and quickly opened the scoring. Some good passing between the Newport team particularly Tom franklin and Orla Leadbeater kept the ball out of Evesham hands for a while but with insufficient room for the backs to cut loose, it took a rolling, dodging, aggressive charge by Matthew Jackson following a pass from Josh Stork to straighten the scoreboard. Evesham hit back and for the rest of the first half stayed in control running in three tries despite Newport being extremely successful in working the ruck and mauls in their favour through Nick Withers and Tom Higgins, only to lose possession.
In the second half Newport stepped up a gear and scored with good solo tries from Fergus, and Amelia Collins (2), followed by a second for Matthew Jackson, but were unable to withstand the counter-attacking by Evesham.
It needs to be said that the whole squad played extremely well, probably the best all season, and their growing confidence in the rucks and mauls is starting to promise success. Compliments from the coaches of both opposition teams with regard the team’s passing skills and support play was entirely justified.
Player of the tour was Orla Leadbeater |
|
|