Gloucestershire Junior Vase Final

Newent 41

Longlevens 12

NEWENT rose to the occasion of one of the biggest games in their history to run in seven tries against a determined Longlevens outfit.

Both sides were full of pace, but a heavy pitch made running rugby difficult.

Newent adapted the better, making good use of their powerful scrum and the expert kicking out of hand of fly-half Joe Goatley.

A mighty shove earned Newent a heel against the head at a scrum 30 yards from the Longlevens line. Joe Goatley glided through a gap and centre Ross Webb was in support to go over. Goatley converted.

Mike Hagan slotted a penalty for Longlevens, but Newent extended their lead with a kick and chase try from Brett Gardner.

Another Hagan penalty was followed by a third Newent try. It came from the forwards via an attacking scrum, with Fred Nottingham touching the ball down.

Another Hagan penalty cut the deficit to 17-9 and things got worse for Newent when George Phelps was sin-binned for hands in the ruck.

The yellow card seemed to wake Newent up and Joe Goatley sliced through the retreating defence before delivering an exquisite kick to the corner for Brett Gardner to score.

Newent's seven man scrum was still too powerful for their opponents and Lee Warren – on the field as a replacement hooker for Greg Tovey – forced his way over. Gardner converted.

George Phelps –hungry for action after his 10 minutes in the cooler – then steamed up the inside to collect a scoring pass from Matthews.

With the game safe, coach Andy Addis introduced John Duffin and Dan Bubb off the bench. Second-row Duffin's contribution was minimal as he was yellow carded for preventing Longlevens from taking a quick penalty.

The ever alert Dominic Matthews rounded things off by squeezing in the left corner for the final try.

Gloucestershire RFU chairman Peter Williams presented the winning shield to Joe Goatley, Newent's captain for the day in the absence of the injured Tristan Veale.

NEWENT II scored nine tries to beat Dowty 49-7 in Gloucestershire Reserve League Division Four North.