Newbury Women fight hard at home to Sutton & Epsom

Newbury Women’s 1st XV returned to Monks Lane to face Sutton and Epsom.

Also a newly promoted side into Championship South 1 the away team were keen to impress.

The first 20 minutes of the game forced Newbury to show their stamina in defence as Sutton had the lion’s share of the possession.
Tackles from Sadie Mansell at 15 stopped multiple attempts of attacking until the away team found their way through the Blue wall of defence and gained the first two scores.

Play continued to move around the pitch with both teams making attempts to go forward but neither gaining much ground. The side lines were assistant tacklers in defence as Newbury and Sutton tried to utilise width to sneak through the defence.

A lineout from within Newbury’s 22 gave Sutton possession in a dangerous zone and utilising their fast paced winger the space was found on the opposite side in the corner.

Newbury were determined to fight in front of a home crowd. The scrum dominated and Emma Paton-Robinson at 8 charged through the defence gaining ground. With momentum building through forward carries and strong support, the backs utilised the technical boot of Meg Mason and aimed for the line. Play was brought back to a penalty where Emma Pallister fired over the line for Newbury.

Newbury’s second try came from a successful attacking play commenced by Roisin Winston gaining a fantastic interception to keep the ball in the opposition’s 22. Once again, the Blues continued to fire forwards into the defence until Becks Reeves made it over the line. Sadie Mansell slotted the conversion between the posts making the score 12-17 to Sutton.

The score finished at 12-36 to Sutton and Epsom as they gained two run away tries from their powerful one up runners forcing gaps in the Newbury defence.

Next week is the turn of the 2nd XV to gain the support of the home crowd as they play Staines on Sunday 22nd October.