On a lovely sunny autumn morning New Inn lane welcomed the visitors from local rivals Newcastle. Trentham were also hosting a World Cup Open day and the barbeque, band and bouncy castle gave the game a carnival type flavour.
Having not been at their best against Stoke in the last home game the boys in green and white were keen to return to form. A call up to the starting side for diminutive winger Will Devey being the main change for the absent Ben Twigg.
Newcastle themselves had a couple of cry offs and were reduced to Thirteen players. After a bit of deliberation it was agreed that the home side would lend them a couple of players so a 15 a side game could go ahead. Thanks to Dylan Williams, Ethan Logan, Louis Willott and Alfie Hughes who helped out the opposition in rotation.
Looking at both sides before the kick off made it evident who the bigger side were with Newcastle having some big units in both the backs and the forwards. From the off though it became clear that Trentham's more organised forwards were quicker to the ball and strong in the tackle keeping the visitors pinned in their own half. It wasn't long before No 8 Ben Mcmillan latched on to a pass form a strong forward drive and crashed over in the corner, the conversion dropping short.
Newcastle re-started the game but a clean catch by Elijah Stone set the forwards off again rampaging down the pitch. The ball was moved wide from each breakdown but strong tackling from Newcastle prevented any penetration from the Trentham backs. Not so the forwards though and another smart pick and go from Ben Mcmillan saw him secure his second, the conversion drifted wide. Trentham now started to get the upper hand and another of the Trentham Back Row Elijah Stone drove over the line for a try again unconverted. Next on the score sheet was Ethan James who narrowly beat Elijah Stone to pounce on the ball when the Newcastle scrum half's kick was charged down. The conversion dropped short.
As the visitors continued to struggle to get out of their half the Trentham backs decided to get in on the action and after the forwards again made some strong plays down the right wing scrum half Joel Bezus popped the ball to Ben Gibson who threw a couple of sublime dummies to scythe through the Newcastle midfield and dart under the posts for a try. Joel Bezus added the conversion.
As the half drew to a close Trentham grabbed another try from a powerful break by Centre Tristian De Jager converted again by Joel Bezus.
Continuing to roll changes on and off Trentham started the second half less strongly than it had finished the first. This allowed Newcastle to take the game to the hosts and put together some neat play down the right hand side of the pitch. The visitors setting up a strong field position Newcastle got a drive on and one of their big forwards was stopped inches from the line and held up for a scrum to Trentham. Still under pressure in the scrum the home side managed to win the ball and replacement scrum half James Nightingale put in a clearance kick. The kick was well fielded but the ensuing pass to the Newcastle midfield was knocked on giving Trentham a scrum on their 10m line.
In a game of two halves with regard to playing styles it was now backs that were bossing the game. Fast ball from the scrum was moved wide allowing centre Tristian de Jager to claim his second after again bursting through the tackle and sprinting to the line.
As the visitors tired the Trentham backs saw the space open up and it was the turn of Sullivan Nicely who had moved into the centres to score next out pacing the opposition to score to the right of the posts converted by Joel Bezus.
Another try quickly followed after James Nightingale moved to the wing and showed his pace to score out wide. Sullivan Nicely added a second that was again converted by Joel until finally Tristian De Jager again smashed through the centre and sprinted to the line to secure his hat trick with Joel again adding the extras. Trentham put together the sort of performance that we know they can and played probably the best rugby they have played in a while. All credit to Newcastle who never gave up and fought well all through the game. Final Score 50-0 Tries; De Jager (3) Mcmillan (2) Nicely (2) Stone, James, Gibson, Nightingale. Conversions: Bezus (5). Man of the Match; Elijah Stone