PENDLE travelled to Newton-le-Willows this week hoping to continue their winning ways, but endured a disappointing afternoon.
Pendle knew the task was going to be difficult with a number of inexperienced players and others playing out of position. For the first 10 minutes they controlled a lot of ball, and their strong defence resulted in Newton having to kick a lot of possession away.
Excellent tackling from Daniel Edmondson, Shawn Moss and Sonny Waddington kept Pendle on the front foot.
Unfortunately Pendle weren’t able to capitalise on this and the score remained 0-0. Pendle were holding their own around the park and in the lineout, but at scrummage time Phoenix were unable to hold back the massive Newton pack, enabling Newton to take control of the game.
Pendle, however, were not going down without a fight and this was shown by excellent cover defence from Tarquinn Hempstead, Rob Lawless and Craig Wiseman. Pendle pressure in defence resulted in Newton giving away a number of penalties. Lawless had a kick at goal on a number of occasions, but each chance was difficult and, with one ball hitting the post, none landed on the right side of the uprights.
Pendle showed their honesty following James Finnucane’s try - when the referee awarded the try the Pendle captain admitted that the ball had gone out of play before he had put it down.
This incident seemed to motivate Newton, and within two minutes the home side were celebrating a try of their own and a lead of 5-0 after their fly half missed the resulting conversion.
The rest of the first half was even in most aspects of play, other than the scrum, where Newton were dominant. At half-time Pendle were happy with the score line and felt they could get back into the game in the second half.
This hope was shortlived when Newton scored within five minutes of the restart- Pendle were now chasing a 10-0 deficit.
Pendle held their own but were unable to break the Newton defensive line. Great runs from George Butler, Jake Hussain and Dave Morris came to nothing. All these chances and no reward took its toll in the last 10 minutes and Newton were able to run in a further two tries, both of which were unconverted.
Man of the match was Sonny Waddington for his strong defence and straight hard running.
FINAL SCORE: Newton-le-Willows 20, Pendle Phoenix 0
If you are interested in playing rugby, Pendle are always looking for new players.
You can contact the club by e-mailing {mailto:info@pendlerugby.co.uk|info@pendlerugby.co.uk} or visit their website at {http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/pendle1/|www.pitchero.com/clubs/pendle1}
You can also ring Ben Peverley on 07977992080.