Newport score 10 tries as they hold on to top spot

Newport thrashed Paviors 64-7 on Saturday to retain top spot in the Midlands Premier with three bonus-point victories.

And Adams said: “To score the amount of tries we did last weekend and this is very encouraging.

“This week we put together two decent halves of rugby, scoring five tries in each.

“The most pleasing part of this performance was our focus on our defence and reduced penalty count.

“We had trained and made some adjustments to our defence during the week and as a result we saw improvement in that area. Our pack dominated again, enabling us a good platform against a big visiting set of forwards, I thought our half backs looked good together and our attack on the left edge looked dangerous all afternoon.

“This Saturday we travel to Sandbach, who are an efficient team and who are also three wins from three.

“We will look to focus on our game in attack and hopefully get our preparations right to nullify their attacking threats.

“As a group we are looking forward to the challenge and welcoming back returning players to the squad over the next few weeks.”

Sam Evans (four), Jack Price (two), Harry Mahoney, Tom Cowell, George Castledine and Connor Adams were the men to cross for tries against Paviors.

Bridgnorth suffered their first defeat of the season in the Midlands Premier as they went down 34-22 at Bromsgrove.

The All Blacks were made to pay for a slow start as they found themselves 22-3 behind at half-time, with only a Will Biddell penalty to show for their efforts.

A sinbin for a Bromsgrove player at the start of the second half allowed Bridgnorth to hit back with a Marley Fin try, converted by Biddell.

Grove pulled clear once more, earning a bonus point in the process, but Luis Evitt crossed for a late double to bring the score within 12 points, Biddell adding one more conversion.

Bridgnorth host their Vice President’s Day when Burton visit on Saturday.

Meanwhile, head coach Mikey Jones has called on his Ludlow troops to extend Wolverhampton’s rude awakening in rugby’s Midlands One West.

The Linney men have started their league campaign in fine fettle after responding to an opening-day setback to record back-to-back victories, most recently in last Saturday’s 19-12 Shropshire derby triumph over Whitchurch.

Jones’ men raced into a 12-0 lead against the north Shropshire visitors with Joe Doyle and Jack Lines going over with tries.

James Mear scored an important third, with Lines grabbing the kicking points. The head coach hailed an excellent defensive display as key.

And now Jones is looking to make life difficult for Saturday’s hosts Wolverhampton, who are new to the level and have lost their first three games. Jones, whose side target a top four finish, said: “We know what level we’re at and we know how to play at that level.

“Wolverhampton are always a good side at home so we’ve just got to take them on and show them what the league is, with it being their first season up.

“We need to show them what the difference is between the sides.”

Ludlow are still waiting for a full complement of players to be available this term and Jones continues to wait on a couple of niggling injuries.

He said of the victory over Whitchurch: “It was a very good performance all-round, we knew we had to front up on the scrummaging side, which we did, and matched them in the forwards and the backs were strong.

“We worked on the game we lost and pulled out two good results.”

A Shropshire derby between Clee Hill and Shrewsbury gets the season under way in Midlands Three West (North) on Saturday.

Telford Hornets are also in action when they travel to Burntwood, while Cleobury Mortimer have one more week to wait before getting their campaign under way at Shrewsbury on October 2.

Market Drayton and Oswestry are both at home on the opening weekend of Midlands Four West (North) action.

Drayton host Trentham and Oswestry take on Rugeley.