NEWENT Rugby Club captain Tristan Veale hailed his team after their magnificent RFU Junior Vase final triumph at Twickenham.

The unbeaten Gloucestershire League Division One champions continued to steam over all before them, powering past West Yorkshire outfit and holders Baildon 58-29.

Newent bagged eight tries to deservedly take the trophy home after a famous run to the home of English rugby.

Veale declared: “I’m ecstatic. It was a brilliant result and shows the hard work we have been putting in over the season.

“It paid dividends at the weekend. We did ourselves proud and the crowd supported us brilliantly.”

Coach Andy Addis said: “We knew it was going to be a big occasion and prepared for it. Our scrum was tremendous and our backs just executed good clean ball with it.”

It set the tone of the game when Baildon were shunted back at the first scrum in the opening minute and Newent fly-half Joe Goatley landed his first penalty.

They plundered the scrums and left the northerners on the back foot throughout, moving 11-0 ahead with a try by scrum-half James Dean and a second Goatley penalty. Baildon hit back with a try from flanker Tom Craven and a conversion and penalty by full-back Jake Duxbury but when Dean bagged his second, Newent regained the momentum.

They added a try by centre Tom Webb and a conversion and two penalties from Goatley to lead 29-10 at half-time.

Winger Dominic Matthews and centre Barney Goatley extended the lead through tries with Joe Goatley converting the former.

A try by Baildon’s Craig Woodall, converted by Duxbury, punctuated the Newent dominance but Joe Goatley broke through to dive over and convert before number eight Fred Nottingham crossed.

Duxbury’s try and conversion rewarded Baildon’s never-say-die resolve. Although another powerful scrum launched the eighth Newent try for flanker Lee Warren, Baildon had the last word when centre Elliott Morgan carved through.

Newent’s Joe Goatley added: “It was a massive team performance. I’ve got to thank the boys up front for all their hard work. Everything over this last season has just been incredible.”