Chesterfield Panthers 2’s vs Newark 3’s

After some last minute changes and a few phone calls, the match was set and the Panthers had a lot to prove. This line up was mainly the 3rd team of last season and needed to up their game to stay in this competition. Newark had travelled with a bare bones team but were full of experience and wisdom.

Alex Tustin kicked off and the carnage began, the Panthers were moving forward with a lot of ferocity but were chaotic at best. Liam Chappell offloaded to Ryan Hanes who, in a do or die moment, launched the ball out wide to Nathan Newton during the tackle, a catch would be an easy try, a drop would be a disaster! Thankfully Nathan plucked it from the air and sprinted to the try line to open up the scores.
5-0

Spirits were immediately high, John Jefferson was quick to calm the exuberant Panthers down, this high intensity and frankly sloppy play would not last the full game. Newark took the restart, a knock on advantage and sloppy breakdowns gave them a penalty just 10 metre out, which they took full advantage of.
5-7

This was exactly what Jeffo was referring to. Panthers went back up the field, a barrage of attacks resulting in a scrum just 5 metres out. The pack scrummed with ease and Dan fired the ball wide to “The Flash” yet again.
10-7

Newark returned and another series of sloppy mistakes resulted in a penalty kick at the posts.
10-10

Eager to put things right, the Panthers became more composed and more “switched on” good hands and movement got the ball out to Nathan who ran out from deep inside his own territory, stepping the defence over 40m and scoring again.
15-10

Now with high confidence and great strength in the scrums, a cross field kick from Dan Wilson found Luke Race who leapt like a salmon, scoring in the corner.
20-10

The Panthers continued to pile on the pressure, the loose ball finding new boy Ray, who bludgeoned his way through, to score near the sticks.
Dan Wilson converting.
27-10

The second half bought some fresh legs and great confidence, excellent line speed from our defence saw the visitors make handling mistakes which the pack hoovered up in the scrums. Liam Chappell taking advantage of this to run in a try from 20m.
Dan Wilson converting
34-10.

Julian Ord demonstrated great strength and frequently ripped the ball from the opposition’s hands and battled his way through regularly. Again passing out wide found Nathan “FLASH” Newton.
39-10

The visitors demonstrated great heart by piling the pressure on into the final minutes, a great test of our defence, considering we were down to 14 men for the last 20minutes of the game. Dan & Ray battered the opposition 12, the opposition 12 promised to return and did exactly that, crashing to the right of the posts.
39-17

Today’s scrums showed incredible strength against a larger, more experienced pack, the line outs left some work to be desired but the mindset is there and will soon develop, too many penalties were given away today, for too many reasons, and we might not be as lucky in future games.

Overall, Newark played with a lot of pride, but The Panthers proved that they wanted this result a lot more and deserved the win in this enjoyable game. Looking forward to the return fixture I imagine that we’ll see a much tougher game.

1. Ryan Hanes - “Played like a man possessed!” - Manager Adam Rodgers.
2. Liam Frith - Constantly developing his hooker role, good day in the scrums.
3. Julian Ord - If fellow Prop Ryan was possessed, then Julian was the devil himself. On fire today and well deserved Forward of the match.
4. Liam Ward - Incredible strength, a real piston in the second row.
5. Declan Wileman - Got some good break throughs today, has developed a lot
6. John Askew - Was all over the park like a good flanker should.
7. Liam Chappell - Still healing from previous injuries but didn’t show it today, even bagged himself a try!
8. Greg Fritchley - Truly put his body on the line today, had great game. Yellow carded for being over eager at the ruck?
9. Bruce Shiels - Still getting used to the Panthers style of play, but developing well.
10. Alex Tustin - Great vision from the fly half, controlled the game well, just needs a bigger voice.
11. Nathan Newton - Scored an impressive 4 trys, even with an injured leg, incredible! His rugby has improved exponentially, combined with his pace, a well earned man of the match, but still DOD due to his showboating.
12. Dan Wilson - Good to have back, some very well placed kicks in openplay, not so lucky in the wide conversions today.
13. Ray - Strong, fearless and fast, a great combination but needs to control his temperament, the yellow card was inevitable.
14. Luke Race - Had a great game on the wing, even delivered with a mid air battle to score in the corner.
15. Ben Tustin - Had some great pace and skill under the high ball, delivered well.
16. Ged Dernley - Came on as a “winger” unfortunately injured his thumb before he had chance to get going.
17. Grant Teagle - Quite possibly still drunk but played with great power.
18. Andrew Macefield - Came on at 8, still gets away with the dummy passes and quick taps after all these years.
19. Lewis Chapman - Was unlucky to only get a few minutes toward the end, a lot more to come!
20. Gareth Blakeman - New lad had to do his duties and wear the Newark colours, we’ve all done it in the past but he had the opportunity to show the Panthers what he’s made of, and kept the scrums contested.