Regional Two Midlands West

Ludlow RFC 20 Newent RFC 29

UNBEATEN league leaders Newent showed real character to emerge narrow winners in Shropshire under the shadow of Ludlow Castle, reports PAUL DANDO.

Ludlow soon took play into the Newent half where, despite some good relieving kicks by Tom Webb, the hosts pretty much camped for the opening 20 minutes.

Despite determined tackling, notably by skipper Ben Vincent and hooker Will Tanner, the pressure eventually told, as Ludlow second row Gwyn Pierce scored wide out on the left for 5-0.

Newent soon responded with a try of their own though, when a neat break by centre Will Hartland took play into the 22 where he found Adrian Connelly steaming up on his outside.

And the winger made no mistake scoring near the posts with Webb slotting the conversion for a 7-5 lead.

Ludlow then lost a player to the sin bin, and the visitors full took advantage, Webb giving a perfectly timed pass to centre Hartland, who was through in a flash for Newent’s second try, converted by Webb for a 14-5 half-time lead.

But after the restart, a speculative kick fell between two Green Army defenders and bounced straight into the arms of Ludlow full-back Bailey Bache, who had the easiest of runs to the line, converted by William Hodnett to make it 14-12.

No blame to the defenders, who were just too far away to make the catch, but the old adage, “never let a rugby ball bounce” was never more apt.

Newent bounced back almost immediately though, Connelly scoring wide out to stretch the lead to seven points.

Hodnett then kicked a penalty to make it 19-15 before Newent applied more pressure near Ludlow’s line only for a vigorous clear-out by Vincent to earn him a yellow card.

A rumbling maul then took play over the visitors’ line where hooker Jack Small was adjudged to have grounded the ball for a Ludlow try and a 20-19 lead to the hosts despite the missed conversion.

It now appeared Ludlow might go on to win and end Newent’s unbeaten run.

But the Green Army were having none of it, and a huge scrum effort won a penalty which Webb put right into the corner.

From the lineout, powerful winger Jim Hartland crossed for a try which Webb converted from wide out on the left to put the visitors 26-20 in front with nine minutes left to play.

Right from the re-start, the visitors took play back into home territory where they secured a scrum penalty which Webb sent sailing between the uprights for 29-20 and almost certain victory.

The last play of the match denied the Shropshire side a losing bonus point however, which they rather deserved for their efforts.

Newent head coach Sam Goatley said: “We made things hard for ourselves at times today, but the team showed plenty of character.

“The never-say-die attitude is what gets you through tough games like that.”

Will Hartland was named Newent man-of-the-match by the hosts.

Elsewhere, Ross RFC secured a third win in a row in the Counties 4 Tribute Gloucestershire League, beating Smiths 2nds 27-5 at Greytree.

Newent host Solihull outfit Edwardians this Saturday (February 1) while Ross travel to face Yate in South Gloucestershire.