Newport dig deep for vital victory

A superb second-half defensive display saw Newport stand strong against the elements and an impressive Sheffield outfit.

Newport led 20-19 with around 20 minutes remaining and withstood some sustained pressure from the visitors to see out the game.

Having highlighted the need for defensive improvement earlier in the season, director of rugby and head coach Bob Adams was delighted with his side’s efforts on Saturday.

“The weather conditions were very tough and when you are playing up the slope and against the wind it is very difficult,” said Adams. “We opted to play with the wind in the first half and to try to put points on the board.

“But we were under a lot of pressure late on in the game and to not concede was really pleasing.

“Our defending was a bit of an Achilles heel for us earlier in the season, but it’s something we have worked on.

“We knew that when the weather changed and the ground conditions got heavier that we weren’t going to score as many tries, so we had to be better defensively.

“Our discipline was also very good not to give away any penalties. The boys showed a lot of character. It was all about getting the win on Saturday.”

Jack Wells, George Castledine and Harry Mahoney scored Newport’s tries.

Bridgnorth came out on the right side of another tense Midlands Premier clash.

They held their nerve to claim a 29-27 success away to Dudley Kingswinford – the third game running where two points or less have separated North and their opponents.

The victory left North sitting second in the table, two points behind Shropshire rivals Newport. The sides will meet on February 12.

Zac Xiorouppa, Ben Rochelle, Gregg Szczepanski and Jordan Burgess scored their tries.

Ludlow produced another defensive masterclass to see off the threat of Midlands One West rivals Hereford.

An impressive all-round display saw The Linney men record their fourth shut-out of the season on the way to a 24-0 success on home soil.

Ludlow led 12-0 at half-time following tries from AJ Rocke and Tom Amplett, the first of which was converted by Jack Lines.

And they added another 12 points after the break with James Mear and Charlie Doyle both touching down, while Lines added another two points with his boot.

And head coach Mikey Jones was delighted with his side’s efforts against a physical Hereford outfit.

“That’s four shut-outs for us this season, which is very pleasing,” said Jones. “There are only ourselves and Lichfield who have ‘nilled’ Hereford this season.

“It is always a physical game against Hereford and their pack is a lot heavier than ours.

“But our defence won us the game. They shut Hereford down in all aspects and when we had the chance to attack, we made the most of it and put points on the board

.”

Whitchurch moved up to fifth with a 27-15 success at Old Halesonians.

In Midlands Three West (North), Clee Hill lost 24-12 at home to Burntwood, while Cleobury Mortimer went down 23-20 against Aldridge.

Shrewsbury’s match at leaders Edwardians was abandoned, while second-placed Telford Hornets were not in action.

Market Drayton Ravens continued their push towards the top of Midlands Four West (North)with another strong performance against Wednesbury.

A power-packed second-half display saw the Ravens triumph 44-7, with Chad Fieldhouse helping himself to a hat-trick of tries.

Dovi Soqosoqo, Josh Horton and George Minshall also crossed the whitewash.

At the summit of that division remain Oswestry after a 24-17 triumph over Willenhall. Nick Clay found leading try scorer Luke Beckett to open the scoring for Os, but the visitors took advantage of a sinbin for Connor Crompton and pegged them back to 7-7.

Despite going down to 13 men at one point, Oswestry weathered the storm and retook the lead when Beckett turned provider to tee up Connor Blair.

Teenage debutant Jacob Jones stretched that lead to 19-7 at the interval, which became 24-7 when Beckett touched down after the break – with a late Willenhall try proving to be mere consolation.

Bishop’s Castle & Onny Valley put up a good fight, but were beaten 17-3 by Midlands Five West (South) leaders Birmingham & Solihull.