Nice weather
Newbury Blues took a battering from top of the league Trowbridge to finish 17:76 in their home clash.
A considerably re-worked side, reflecting the injuries sustained in the punishing match the previous weekend at Thornbury, stepped out into the autumn sunshine to face the visitors and while the fans were very conscious that Trowbridge posed significant opposition they were heartened by a good first 20 minutes from both sides. Yes, Trowbridge got the first points on the board 7 minutes in, with an unconverted try by Jack Davis, but the Blues edged ahead in the 11th minute with Ben Hurford-John’s smashing try, capably converted by Daniel Saunders. So far, so good. And it stayed that way for another ten minutes.
At 20 minutes, Trowbridge scored a good, converted try but the Blues responded again, five minutes later, with a near-miss by Ben Hicks – so close!
The penalty try against the Blues on 30 minutes was a bit of a mystery and the yellow card shown to Ben Hurford-John left Blues fans looking quizzical at best. And, after that, it pretty much unravelled for the Blues. Two further tries for the visitors (one converted, one not) left the score standing at 31:7 to Trowbridge at half time.
The second half was a triumph for the visitors and awful for the Blues. Once again, a bigger pack punished the home team – although, oddly, more in the tackling play than the scrum – and Trowbridge were just better, quicker, stronger in each aspect of play. Another half dozen tries (some converted, some not) went over the line and the Blues didn’t have much of a response. The score stood at 7:76 to the visitors.
That is until the very final minutes of play. It is an enormous credit to the Blues that, working as a team, both George Robinson-Slater and Malaki Tupoutoutai made it over the try line in the 39th and 40th minutes of play. A little honour restored, the scores stood at 76:17 in Trowbridge’s favour. A job of re-building still to be done.
Nice weather.
The Newbury Blues are away at Chippenham RFC on 18th October and back home on 25th October to host North Dorset. Come on you Blues!
Photos by kind permission of Peter Branch
