LOCAL bragging rights belonged to Newbold-on-Avon after they comfortably defeated rivals Old Laurentians 0-45 in their Midlands 1 East encounter on Saturday.
It proved to be the largest winning margin between the two sides in recent years but it was perhaps an unfair reflection on the match, with OLs having kept in touch with their opponents for the first 40 minutes.
However Newbold’s superior strength and power took them clear in the second period.
The omens were not for OLs when an injury forced head prop Aaron Metcalfe out of the game which forced the hosts into an early re-shuffle.
Newbold attacked from the off but came up against a strong OLs defensive outfit and who stood firm until Sam Thompson burst through and beat three tackles before sprinting home for the opening try.
OLs continued to defend resolutely but both Ben Dawes and Dan Facer combined to put Ben Thompson through for a second try to give Newbold a 0-10 lead at half-time.
At the core of OL’s defensive effort were Glenn Todd and flanker James Orbinson who contained the threat posed by Newbold’s Danny Facer and KJ Henry for much of the first half.
But the second half belonged to Newbold as they took control of the game.
Ben Thompson stretched out to win the ball in the lineout and it was KJ Henry who was in support to score the third try of the match and Ethan Wookey found his kicking boots to land a touchline conversion and open up a 17-pont lead.
Next up it was Anthony Freeman who had the pace to run down the line to score again and secure the bonus points for the visitors and Ethan Wookey landed the extras points from the conversion.
It was certainly Newbold’s best 20 minutes of the game as the next score came inevitably from a scrum as Dan Facer was able to score comfortably after another powerful drive from his pack and Wookeys conversion made it 0-31.
Ben Nuttall was next to score when he drove over following a powerful driving maul and once again Wookey was successfull with the conversion.
And skipper Facer ensured a grande finale as he burst through the middle, finding Lloyd Warner on his shoulder, whose smart kick ahead allowed Declan George to round off a fine game to pick up and score the final try, which was once more converted by Wookey.
The win pushes Newbold up to third place while OLs remain rooted at the bottom of the table.
