Sussex Intermediate Division

Newick 15 St Francis 0

 A bright sunny afternoon and a firm playing surface greeted St Francis at the picturesque King George V recreation ground as they looked to extend their unbeaten start to the season at Newick on Saturday.

 Newick made the better start to the match, with their strong running centre often to the fore leading the charge. After eight minutes the Newick scrum half took a quick tap penalty and raced towards the St Francis try line, only to be thwarted by a last ditch intervention by his opposite number, Matt Parish. Saints soaked up the early pressure but were unable to offer much as an attacking force due to their propensity to drop the ball at key moments. Saints openside flanker, Shannon Millard, was often first to the breakdown to win possession for his side but Newick  were tenacious in the tackle and snuffed out any attacks from St Francis before they could gain momentum.

 After twenty minutes a good break from the Newick backs saw them get within ten metres of the Frannies line. Dave Miles pulled off a fine tackle on the speedy right winger but Newick were not to be denied and recycled the ball from the resulting ruck for their aforementioned centre to charge through two attempted tackles and touchdown by the left hand upright. The easy conversion was inexplicably squandered, kicked against the right hand post, and Newick were in the lead by 5-0. After thirty-five minutes Newick were again able to move play down the field and Frannies full back, John McShane, was forced to scramble the ball into touch five metres from the try line. Newick won clean line-out ball from the resulting throw and were able to trundle the ball over the try line with the St Francis pack offering little in the way of opposition. Again the conversion was missed and Newick took their 10-0 lead into the half time interval. Frannies best play in the first half had come in the forwards both in the line out, where Chris Page was often dominant, and in the scrums where their strong front row was able to turn their opponents. In truth, though, St Francis had offered little in the final third of the pitch and Newick deserved their 10-0 lead.

 This looked set to change at the beginning of the second half as Saints started in positive fashion. Shaun Baulk and John McShane combined well before the ball was passed along the back line to Alper Aydin, who made some headway towards the Newick line before passing inside to Dave Miles and Adie Perry. The move only coming to a halt when the ball was knocked on five metres from the Newick line.

 Newick stuck rigidly to their game plan, with heavy forwards running off the back of rucks, creating space for their backs to exploit. In contrast there seemed little pattern to the St Francis play, instead relying on individual play to act as a catalyst for their attacks. Without sufficient support from team mates, however, these efforts came to nothing. Newick engineered a further opportunity for their centre to add to his earlier try but Shannon Millard had other ideas and was able to stop him in his tracks with a timely crunching tackle. Newick continued to press and completed their scoring just after the hour mark by cleverly creating space for their left winger to run over the line for a try in the corner. Matt Jeater and James Smyth replaced Adie Perry and Alper Aydin in the closing stages of the match.

 While St Francis were unhappy with the referee's liberal application of the law on handling the ball on the ground after a tackle, there can be no doubt that Newick fully deserved their 15-0 victory. St Francis will need to focus on playing as a team in their training sessions this week if they are to get back to winning ways next Saturday.

Team - Vince McGahan, Adie Perry (captain), Chris Eagles, Chris Page, Will Roadnight, Matt Bender, Shannon Millard, Dave Miles, Matt Parish, Shane Kenny, Alper Aydin, Damian Poole, Dave Ayres, Shaun Baulk, John McShane, James Smyth, Matt Jeater.