The first walking rugby tournament of the 2019 season was held at Kingswood RFC on Sunday 12th May and the Newent Walking Rugby Squad was one of 9 teams competing in the competition. Teams were drawn in from all over the South West and South Wales, travelling from Cwmbran, Exmouth, Salisbury, Bristol, Gloucester and Newent. The Bristol teams comprised of two from Kingswood (Brown and Blue teams), North Bristol and Broad Plain (Bristol Pioneers).

The nine teams were organised into 3 pools of 3 teams with the two highest scoring winners playing off against the two highest 2nd place teams. This then led to final play offs to find the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place teams for the whole tournament. Newent were in a pool with Topsham (Exmouth) and North Bristol.

In the first game against Topsham Newent showed some classic walking rugby moves, adjusting well to the inclusion of scrums, an aspect of the game that was new to the squad in a competitive situation. Steady play for the four 5-minute quarters resulted in Newent walking out as 5 – 3 winners. All in all, a good start to the afternoon.

The second pool match was against North Bristol and Newent started with a bang by utilising the overlap principle and quickly walking in 4 tries in the 1st quarter. Some shrewd substitutions by North in the subsequent 3 quarters and the distinct possibility that Newent had relaxed on their laurels meant that North fought back well and the game finished as a 5-all draw.

This meant that North Bristol and Newent drew at the top of their pool with 4 points each for a win and a draw and with the same points difference, therefore the organisers then turned to the number of tries scored as the deciding factor and as North had beaten Topsham 7 – 5 as opposed to Newent’s win of 5 – 3 Topsham went through as pool winners to play Gloucester and Newent went on to play tournament hosts Kingswood Brown.

The Newent - Kingswood game was a demonstration of how a team can benefit from ‘fast walkers’ with Kingswood fielding three speedsters who combined to strike early on and have Newent reeling from 4 quick tries in the first quarter. A bit of defensive reorganisation along with some tactical thinking gave Newent cause for hope as they pulled Kingswood back from their lead but ultimately speed won and Newent suffered a 7 – 5 loss, putting them out of the play-off for first place and into the 3rd/4th place game.

For the second time in the afternoon Newent faced up to North Bristol for this pal-off match and having drawn with them in their first encounter, Newent were keen for revenge in their final game of the afternoon. The game that followed was an example of quick thinking (Newent) and accurate flat passing (North). Throughout the game tries were exchanged in a tit-for-tat patter with Newent scoring quickly from their centre restarts only to then find North pushing them back to the Newent line and then scoring from each of their centre restarts. This pattern continued throughout the 20-minute game and when the final hooter went both teams were had 8 tries each. Another draw, and a Tournament 3rd place shared by both teams!

Overall Placings
1st place -Gloucester
2nd Place- Kingswood
3rd Place - Newent & North Bristol

The tournament was a great success and well organised, everyone enjoyed the games and competition along with the opportunity to meet new teams and to socialise with like-minded walking rugby enthusiasts and so Newent would like to thank Kingswood for laying on a great occasion.

There are more games on the horizon with the new Tewkesbury team coming to the Stadt de Rec on Wednesday 19th June ( 7.00 pm), a tournament at Longlevens on Saturday 13th July, Newent visiting Tewkesbury on Wednesday 31st July and then The Big One – Newent’s own Walking Rugby Tournament to celebrate 50 years of Newent RFC in September (details to follow).

Training is every Wednesday at 7.00pm at Stat de Rec, it’s mixed gender and multi ability so anyone and everyone is welcome so come on down!