Newbury Blues – nearly but not quite!
At the first home game of the new season, the Blues produced a strong and professional performance, in touch with but not quite good enough in a thrilling second half fightback to overhaul Wimborne, who took the game with a 5-point lead and a final score of Blue 19, Wimborne 24.
Both teams had something to prove, each having won their away matches against each other last season. And the first half was close fought for the first 20 minutes, until Wimborne got on a roll, scoring tries at 20, 31 and 40 minutes and converting two. For the Blues fans, in a well-attended match, the first half score of 0:17 was deflating.
Wimborne underlined the point in the first five minutes of the second half, with another converted try, but thereafter the Blues built into good form, with tries by Harry Bate, Oli Rhoads and Kyle Doel and two conversions by Captain Dan Thorne. Battling to the last, with all the momentum still with the Blues, Blues fans willed on a final score to snatch the win. It was not to be.
Frustrating and disappointing as the first two games have been, the Blues have fought and scored well, earning bonus points as something of a consolation. There are good grounds for optimism. There were debut performances for Harry Cooper, making the transition to Senior rugby from Colts, Fynn Smail and Fergus Walker and each made an important contribution alongside the senior caps.
The Blues travel away to Andover on Saturday, 21st September – kick-off at 3pm. Come on you Blues!
Photos by kind permission of Peter Branch
