Ashfield see off battling East Retford

Ashfield RUFC saw off battling East Retford 40-22 in their Notts Junior Cup clash.

On the back of an impressive midweek win over Long Eaton, Ashfield went into this game full of confidence.

With the East Retford kick-off failing to reach 10m, Ashfield elected to take the scrum at halfway, and with the ball squirming out, the Ashfield backs were placed under immediate pressure.

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Gareth Jones was once again breaking the game line that set the tone for a passage of play that so nearly led to an opening try.

On 12 minutes Jones again played a typical No.8’s role, driving from the base of the scrum that set up the opening try for Jake Manning, Billy North slotting over the conversion.

On 22 minutes Nick Brearley again capitalised on Ashfield’s dominance and went over in the corner from close range. East Retford came back with three quick tries that looked to have turned the match in their favour.

Credit to Ashfield, in the way they approached the game, and their reward came from another excellent try by Gareth Purnell.

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With a missed conversion the score at half-time was all square at 15-15.

The early part of the second half was uneventful with both teams failing to dominate both possession and territory.

East Retford began to be penalised for persistent foul play and quick tries from Robert Kirk, making his senior debut, Chris Housman, James Kirk, and Mark Denman soon saw a 35-15 point lead opened up.

One thing you don’t do is take East Retford lightly as they came back with a try and conversion to make the score 35-22 on 67 minutes.

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Ashfield rallied again with a further try from Gareth Jones to seal victory.

Ashfield U15 Girls stormed back to the top of the league with a breathtaking performance against a combined team from Newark and Paviors, winning 56-0. Try scorers were Paige Baker (2) , Abbie Lebeau (2), Lucy Payne (2), Brianny Leivers (2), Tilly Griffiths and Megan Warsop, Mariah Bartley adding three conversions.

The most satisfying statistic was not conceding any points to a strong Newark and Paviors team.

Player of the match went to birthday girl Lucy Payne for an outstanding all-round performance, not only scoring two tries but also unselfishly giving the scoring pass on at least three occasions.

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