By Jacob Ridley 7JEH
On Monday 9th May, it was the final of the Newport Schools Cup and the Stags were ready to win and carry on our winning streak against St Joseph’s.
It was an early kick off and a warm day, with a hard pitch at Newport High School. The wide pitch would surely suit the Stags’ fast backs.
Bassaleg started the game off strongly with our forwards carrying the ball straight. Under pressure, St Joseph’s miskicked when trying to clear their lines and Isaac Wilson caught the ball and scooted over the line to make it 5-0 to Bassaleg. The try was converted by Max Venn, to make the score 7-0.
The second Bassaleg try of the match was scored soon afterwards by Zac Hopkins, who ran in from around the halfway line. Again, the conversion was nailed by Max Venn.
Towards the middle of the first half, we stood our ground and defended well. Drew Foley and Joe Watson then scored our third and fourth tries, which led to Max Venn and Will Tancock making two further conversions to put the score at 28-0 at halftime.
In the second half, we again had to defend and had a lot less possession because we gave away penalties for going into the side of rucks. Following a turnover, the ball was passed out to Ethan Elliot who ran past a number of players to score our fifth try.
Towards the end of the game, St Josephs did put a lot of pressure on us which led to one of their players barging over for a consolation try.
The final score was 33-5 to Bassaleg, which meant that we won the Newport Schools Cup! The boys were overjoyed, and we celebrated well by chanting songs. Up the Stags!