NEWBOLD made a statement of their intentions this season after comfortably dispatching fellow Midlands 1 East promotion hopefuls Kettering 29-5 on Saturday.
Kettering kicked the game into life with Eddie Allen receiving the kick off and advancing well into Kettering’s half before going to ground. The hosts were awarded a penalty which Dan OBrien dispatched superbly to take an early three-point lead.
Kettering’s backs looked dangerous with ball in hand and they capitalised with the extra man in their favour by moving the ball wide and forward to score against the run of play wide out for an unconverted try.
The visitors continued to come forward but Newbold’s defence stayed strong and when the home backs eventually got a chance to attack a lineout was stolen by Ben Nuttall and although he was stopped close to the line, a scrum five yards out let to Danny Facer storming over and O’Brien added the extras for 10-5.
A quick break from the resultant kick-off almost led to another Newbold try with Declan George going forward this time but Phil Reed was held up before the line.
They did however take a 17-5 lead into the the break after Facer powered his way over for his second try of the match and O’Brien was on-hand again to kick the extras.
The hosts made a couple of changes at the break with the strength and guile of returnee Nick Walton on display after a fine game as he showed his versatility by moving from second row to prop and finishing the game at number 8.
Newbold’s forwards continued their dominance with Kyle Furlong’s run into the opposition 22 showing his speed before feeding Rory Blood whose race to the line was ended with a superb try-saving tackle.
Kettering were awarded a scrum five yards out but the inevitable shunt forward pushed the visitors off the ball and Sam Thompson was able to claim another five points from an unconverted try.
With the game not over and Newbold looking for the bonus point, a further forward barrage with good carries from Walton, Thompson and Nuttall reaped a further five points and Ethan Wookey added the conversion for a final score of 29-5.
On Saturday Newbold travel to Leighton Buzzard for a difficult encounter.
