Regional 2 Midlands West

Old Halesonians 5 Newent RFC 50

UNBEATEN league leaders Newent RFC beat the big freeze and Worcestershire hosts Old Halesonians with a commanding eight-try win in their first visit to the Wassel Grove ground, reports SIMON BARKER.

A scoreless opening quarter gave little sign of what was to come, but then Tom Webb caught the hosts’ napping with a quick penalty tap to dance over for the opening try.

Old Hales’ long restart kick was then run back by captain Ben Vincent, with the ball finding Doug Long at pace who stepped two defenders and sprinted away to score before adding the extras for 12-0.

Flanker Jim Hartland next made a break to find prop Ethan White who was stopped just short, but Will Hartland was on hand to touch down for Newent’s third try in ten minutes (17-0).

With a Green Army player sin-binned for hands in the ruck, Old Hales then hit back through centre Jake Penn to make it 17-5 at the break.

Newent's pack then withstood serious pressure after the restart, before a long kick lifted the siege and Jim Hartland fed outside centre Nathan Brooks for a good finish wide on the right.

Hartland next claimed an overthrown lineout, offloading to second row James Marshall to score a fifth try, converted by Long

And the restart kick was then run back by Vincent before scrum-half Dylan Leney darted over from a ruck for the sixth try, converted again for 36-5.

Newent’s seventh and eighth tries were scored by flying winger Adrian Connelly, firstly kicking a wayward pass ahead before gathering and diving over in the left-hand corner, with Long adding the extras.

And Tom Webb then fielded the restart, stepped several tacklers and burst clear to find Will Hartland, who in turn fed Connelly to score under the posts, Long notching his fifth conversion for a 50-5 win.

Newent host Stratford-upon-Avon this Saturday (January 11).