Rugeley power too much for Barton

In the league season opener Rugeley welcomed Barton Under Needwood to St. Augustine’s field. Given Barton had spent the previous season in a higher league, this would be a clear marker for Rugeley’s progress.

Rugeley fielded a tried and tested team with the core of the team unchanged, with a few new faces with Connor Brighton making his first team debut on the wing and Michael Wilkes returning from long term injury.

It was the visitors that opened the scoresheet with a penalty minutes into the game. The home side wasted no time in responding to this with new first team captain Luke Pagett crossing the whitewash for a try inside of 5 minutes to start Rugeley’s season try tally.

The rest of the first half saw the Rugeley forwards dominate with the Barton scrum spending much of the day in reverse gear come scrum-time. Strong forwards play saw the home side cross the try line on 3 more occasions during the first period, with 2 break away tries during the first half completed the days scoring for Barton early on.

Following the half-time Rugeley pressed home their physical advantage with over 40 unanswered points scored. Rugeley showed a little more flare in the second half with a number of impressive tries from the back line. Standout performances from Nathan Homer (Man of the Match), Jordan Wood(3 tries) and 4 tried from the returning Michael Wilkes Goggs (4 Tries), see Rugeley starting their season on a positive note.

It was a difficult match for Barton who won’t be looking forward to the return match later in the season. They have some promising younger backs who looked dangerous with ball in hand.

Rugeley were delighted with such a big victory over a local rival and marched for one week at least to the top of the table.

Next week sees Rugeley travel to Bloxwich, in what is always a challenging game.