North Midlands Cup Final
Birmingham & Solihull
20pts
v
Newport
20pts
Newport’s season was brought to a farcical end following a pulsating final at
Dudley Kingswinford where matters finished all square after normal time. As
both sides prepared themselves for ten more minutes each way to decide who
would lift the trophy, the PA announcer declared that Bees would take the
Cup having scored 3 tries to Newport’s 2.
Considering earlier rounds had been forced to kick off earlier to allow for the
possibility of extra time and Bees themselves had defeated Bromsgove in a
previous round of the competition, the decision was a shock to both clubs,
neither having been briefed before kick-off about the changes to this rule that
were to be applied in the final.
In an embarrassing attempt to disguise the North Mids organiser’s mistake it
was then announced that the referee had blown up too early and there was
time for one further play. Newport had been awarded a penalty but were
camped on their own line and although they tried to run the ball out and keep
it in play the ball was finally spilled and the Cup belonged to Bees, much to
their obvious delight but also with a palpable sense of injustice.
Bees were unusually subdued in the early stages and it was Newport who
started much the brighter. Ash Paterson combined well with Henry Vaka
before winger Declan Hadley had a good early run. Paterson fell short with a
drop goal attempt but the pressure was beginning to build. Paterson then put
a probing kick into the Bees twenty two whereupon player of the year Steve
Byrne turned over possession. The ball went swiftly through the hands, Chris
Perry delivering the scoring pass to Liam Holder who went over in the corner.
His conversion went in off the post to give Newport a well deserved 0-7 lead
after twelve minutes. Four minutes later Bees slotted a simple penalty to
reduce the arrears to 3-7.
Holder then pushed a penalty attempt wide before Vaka broke through and
fed the supporting Luke Kendall who did wonderfully well to collect the pass
off his boot laces before the pressure and ensuing chaos forced Birmingham
to infringe and Holder gratefully accepted the second chance and converted
to make it 3-10 after twenty one minutes.
Kirk Robinson and Nathan Parker were making their usual hard yards and this
together with Jake Goulson’s control at the line out gave Newport the upper
hand. As the side going forward they were getting the benefit of most of the
referee’s decisions but this was soon to change when first Vaka, harshly
adjudged to have made a high tackle, and then Kendall, for not rolling away
were despatched to the sin bin leaving Newport desperately short of numbers.
Nevertheless, Newport defended well and were able to keep their 3-10
advantage going into the break.
Well as Newport were playing the tide was beginning to turn and a series of
four penalties along the left hand touchline, one of which resulted in a yellow
card for Parker just as Vaka and Kendall had returned to the fray, took Bees
to within sight of the Newport line whereby they trundled over to score from
the rolling maul, sadly their one and only tactic of the afternoon but who would
blame them for playing to their strengths? Conversion missed the score stood
at 8-10 after forty nine minutes.
The Yellow cards had taken their toll and Newport were forced to ring the
changes from the bench. Michael Woodhouse for Parker, Charles BaffourAwuah for Hadley and Richard Biggin for Phil Rogers who had done an
outstanding job anchoring the Newport scrum.
Newport must have scented victory when after sixty one minutes Byrne picked
up at the back of an advancing five metre scrum and crowned an outstanding
afternoon by crashing over for Holder to again convert and make it 8-17.Ten
minutes later Bees were back in it when another driving maul took them over
from short range and the conversion reduced the deficit to 15-17 with nine
minutes remaining and Newport tiring badly.
As the seconds ticked away Bees forced their way towards the Newport line
pressing for the decisive score. Newport then lost skipper Goulson for a fourth
yellow card of the day and Bees crashed over with a stereotypical catch and
drive try from the resultant penalty to touch and subsequent line out.
Seemingly dead and buried Newport somehow got themselves into Bees
territory and won a penalty which Holder knocked over to level the scores at
20-20. Had they been aware of the laws that were to be applied at the final
whistle then they would surely have gone for touch and tried for the five
pointer. It may not have been successful but then again it might and therein
lies the injustice.
Team: Perry, Holder, Vaka, Weston, Hadley, Paterson, Barton, Byrne,
Kendall, Robinson, Parker, Goulson (Captain), Rogers, Kirkby, Wells
Bench: Biggin, Pardesi, Cowell,Woodhouse, Adams, Foskett, Baffour-Awuah
Newport would like to congratulate Birmingham & Solihull on their victory and
it is not their fault that the Organisers were to drop such a clanger on the day.
They have suffered enough mis-fortune over the last few years so maybe last
Sunday was meant to be their day. Roll on next season!
Written by: Chris Wilde