Close game for Newbury Women

Off the back of last week’s win against Reading Abbey, Newbury were looking to take a win against a travelling London Irish after a gutting defeat to them in the first half of the season.

Sadly, the result was not in Newbury’s favour as Irish took a 5-14 win.

London Irish looked threatening as they gained possession from kick off and forced a knock on from Newbury’s jackaling attempt. Although a strong scrum from the home team pushed the Irish backwards, ball was recovered and they continued to attack into Newbury’s defensive line. The pressure from this defence forced knock-ons by London Irish and gave Newbury their chance to attack.

Aiming to get the play out of the danger zone, Newbury utilised territorial kicking to gain ground. Irish, who seemed to prefer to play fast-paced backs rugby in open space, capitalised on this kick and came charging back at the Blues. A quick tap penalty and neat footwork from the Irish 10 gave them the lead, 0-5.

The rest of the half was without points as possession bounced between both teams trying to retain the ball in attack but both susceptible to a knock on as the wind picked up and pressure from the defence intensified.

London Irish had two attempts at grounding the ball over the try line but were called back for knock-ons just shy of the line. It wasn’t until they had a quick penalty ten metres out from the line that the away team trundled the ball over the line to increase their lead to 14-0.

Having fought through the entire game but not being able to quite stop the powerful Irish the Blues were not going to give in without a fight.
They restarted the game and Jenny Buckley retrieved possession from just over the 10m line and Newbury attacked hard from here. A scrum to the Blues provided a steady platform for the backline to distribute the ball into space and support play was key to breaking the gain line at point of contact.

Another stable scrum allowed Meg Mason to quickly snap the direction of play and the ball was moved with pace and accuracy towards the identified overlap on the left wing. A break-through from Lizzie Harris and Zoe Gittens brought the ball close to the line but a perfectly timed support run from Jenny Buckley cleared up the final pass and carried the ball over the line.

The even battle continued until the end of the half but no further points were gained for either team.

It is rest week for the 1st XV next week but the 2nd XV face Dorking for the first time this season. The Women return to Monks Lane on 18th February with both teams facing league fixtures.