A fine sunny morning greeted the leamington squad as they congregated in the 1st team changing rooms preparing to host the newport ( Salop ) visitors. A shaky warm up however warned that the home side might be a little sleepy still and unfortunately the start of the game confirmed this in quick time. A well struck leamington kick off was well taken by the newport back row who drove the ball straight back at the moorefield pack taking the ball back over the half way line , a crisp and effective clean out from newport freed the ball up for the feisty scrum half to feed to the supporting runner. Newport repeated the clinical attack with deadly effect and after 3 phases leamington looked dazed with gaps beginning to appear in the defensive line. The visitors took advantage of the space and their tall quick outside centre snaked through to get into open space a simple pass to the supporting player evaded the covering tackle from lewis ball the full back to open the scoring which was successfully converted.

After the restart the leamington outfit knew they were in for a challenging morning and so started to apply themselves more robustly. The homeside structured their defensive line more effectively and started to frustrate the attacking desire of the visitors who began to display their annoyance. Newport however showed their calibre and increased the intensity of their attack and began to break down leamington's defence and expose that area of weakness that occurs week after week when ineffective tackling allowed a runner to coast through the centre of the defensive line into space. A good cover tackle from the ever reliable Lewis Ball stopped the attack momentarily however the salopians quickly recycled the ball and finished off a good move with a try under the posts.

Leamington looked disheartened and this lead to a lack of concentration allowed Newport to repeat the same manoueuvre extending their lead to 3 scores within a few minutes of the restart. Once again poor tackling and slow reactions in the tight area let the leamington team down in this period of play.

Some of the homeside started to lose their discipline repeatedly questioning referee decisions and generally moaning about factors outside their control so the whole side had to be robustly briefed by the captain to reestablish order.

A much stronger period of play then followed this distraction where leamington started to test Newport's defence for the remainder of the half with some strong running and ambitious play. A strong performance from the leamington pack enabled some strong runs from centre Tom Betts , Kofi Miller and Rhys but the lack of a supporting player meant that no points were achieved.

The leamington attack continued to be frustrated after the half time and heads started to droop as attacks were stopped both by the lack of support and strong newport tackling. This frustration lead to a drop in intensity which the ever ready newport were able to capatalise upon with 3 well finished trys in a 10 min period highlighting leamington continuing frailty defending in .

Seemingly out of the match leamington then regathered their resolve and started to pick up the ball and string together some effective attacks which culminated in 2 consolation trys firstly a jinking run from oscar finished by a supporting runner and secondly a pick up from base of scrum followed by a determined to beat 3 tacklers by the massive Rhys.

A last minute lapse granted Newport the last score giving a final scoreline of 10-47 which was reflective of a good overall performance from a well drilled visiting side flattered however by leamington's patch defence and slow reactions. It must be noted however that there were strong periods of play from the moorefields team especially with ball in hand and in the set pieces.

Man of the match was the ever strong Rhys and a new light hearted addition to the awards 'Richard' of the day was Will Callan. The following fines were also awarded . fines of £1 must be paid to either the coaches or Lucy before next weeks game.

Luke x £1 / late
Taylor x £1 / gumshield / socks
Tom SB x £1 / boots / socks
Tom T x £2 / late / socks / shorts
Lucian x £1 / socks
Adam x £1 / socks
Aiden x £1 / socks