Droitwich 39 - Newbold on Avon 0

Saturday 5th December 2009

Droitwich returned to winning ways on Saturday although were not at their most convincing best.

With the wind and rain making life difficult for quality rugby, both sides did make an effort to play attractive rugby.

A strong run by skipper, Phil Horton, made ground. Ross Coombes added pace before giving a nicely weighted pass to winger Mark Strutt who powered over to open the scoring. James Metcalfe added the tricky conversion.

A neat break by Chris Hooper found Horton in support who timed an excellent pass to backrow forward Andy Manns to dive over and increase the home side’s lead.

Matt Barnes made headway in the centre to find the lively Steve Poke in support. He released Strutt to surge for the line, but he was held up just short. On the other wing Simon Pearce went close, but again the Newbold defence was solid.

Good turnover ball, won by the evergreen Nick Godfrey, saw Alex Saddington make ground before the muscular presence of Dean Goddard powered toward the line, to find Strutt in support to go over for his second try.

The second period continued in the same vein as the home side powered forward with front row forward Dylan Jones and James Protherough proving a dynamic pairing in the loose.

A sniping break up the blind side saw Steve Poke feed Strutt, who accelerated over half way to draw the defence and feed Hooper on the inside with a tidy pass. Hooper used his pace to race home and score.

Will Baillon came on to replace Pearce and immediately found himself in possession; the teenage winger chipped ahead and chased with purpose, to gather and dive over and score under the posts. Metcalfe was on target with the conversion.

James Davies and Godfrey combined to win possession; again Jones surged forward before replacement Rob Dowdeswell sprinted clear. His pass was superbly timed to find the irrepressible Hooper to scorch home for his second.

Newbold, to their credit, came back strongly and produced their best rugby of the game, pressuring the home line and were unlucky not to score, although the tackling of Barnes, Strutt and Manns kept them at bay.

As conditions worsened the game came to an end with Droitwich returning to winning ways, producing some intelligent rugby. Two-try man of the match, Mark Strutt commented, “We were in the driving seat for much of today’s game, and certainly played far better than last week. It was great to go over for a couple of tries, but the forwards really laid the platform for the backs to score the points.”

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