Sat 30 Oct 2021
A combination of fine weather and the Bridgnorth Rugby Ladies Day event ensured a bumper crowd was in attendance as North welcomed Nuneaton to the Edgar Davies Ground.
Bridgnorth welcomed back George Newman at hooker replacing the injured Luis Evitt and included Levi Davies for his first start in the centre. North started at a fast pace and winger Greg Szczepanski made good ground before Newman scored wide out, Elliott Murphy converting from the touch line. Nuns hit straight back with a converted try of their own but then missed touch with a penalty clearance allowing North to run the ball back for Newman to bag his second try, converted by Murphy. With North in the ascendancy Levi Davies extended the lead with a converted try. Elliot Brooks then left the field for a head injury assessment being replaced by Conor Barker who scored the bonus point try with his very first touch after Morgan French had recovered a high Gareth Bladen clearance kick. A period of Nuns pressure was rebutted by good North defence and the half ended with the hosts leading 26-7
A more evenly contested second half started with North kicking a penalty to the corner and another powerful Newman charge gave skipper Jonah Boyce the opportunity to touch down which Murphy converted. Nuns then responded with an unconverted try to narrow the margin to 33 - 12 before Conor Barker charged down an attempted clearance allowing George Newman to complete his hat trick. North introduced Ben Rochelle and Mike Betteridge from the bench with the later making his first team debut before another try for Nuns converted from the touch line gave them some hope and put them in range of a bonus point. The scoring for North was completed by Levi Davies who scored in the corner following good handling down the back line. To their credit Nuns never gave up and scored a fourth try to earn a deserved bonus point and complete the scoring with the hosts prevailing 45 - 26. Next week North journey to Northamptonshire for their first ever meeting with newly promoted Oundle. The club will be welcoming spectators to their annual bonfire night on Saturday 6th November following the cancellation of last years event due to Covid.
