MARLOW AT HOME

U14s COMPLETE THE DOUBLE OVER MARLOW

Following away success earlier in the season, Newbury RFC's U14s welcomed Marlow to Monks Lane where, for the second match in a row, they were allocated pitch 1. Marlow arrived with a 19 man squad including a number of familiar big runners and several others we had not previously seen. Our opponents were clearly set on revenge and the opening exchanges were highly competitive, with both teams rucking strongly and running hard at the defensive line. We had again settled on a format of four 15 minute quarters and, after the opening salvoes, the boys began to make their pace in the backs work, with Fraser, at centre, punching holes in the defence and the back three of Matt K, Alex and Arham running strongly. Felix at 9 worked well with his forwards to recycle ball, with strong runs from Cam, Roger, Ethan and Conor bringing the pack inside Marlow's 22. With the boys driving a maul towards the line, Scott peeled off blind and ran in for our first try. Shortly afterwards, Matt G put Fraser into space behind the defence and Fraser also went over. The teams turned round with Newbury 10-0 up. The break saw Newbury roll on 9 new players. With Marlow sticking to the same XV, the Blues lost a little shape and struggled with some strong running from the opposition 8, 12 and 14, in particular. Three unanswered tries saw the teams turn round with Newbury 10-19 down. The reintroduction of the starting squad helped reverse the pressure and tries from Arham, cutting in strongly off his wing, and Louis, poaching on the line, restored the spirits; with Marlow getting a further score, the teams went into the final quarter 24-24. The re-introduction of 9 new players again saw a little slip in structure and, as a result, two tries in quick succession saw Marlow go 24-36 up and pushing hard for victory. A number of Blues substitutions brought immediate results. Fraser, having reappeared on the pitch after a yellow card (which he was perhaps a little unfortunate to incur as the result of a perceived dangerous tackle) made a well-timed interception outside the Marlow 22 to charge through to take the game to 31-36. With support on the touchline from both sets of supporters reaching a crescendo, Louis broke through to tie the scores, then, with a minute left on the clock, Fraser completed his hat-trick, with Newbury running out victors 41-36.

This was, by common consensus, the boys' best game of the season, certainly from a spectator's point of view. Although not faultless, the team demonstrated real coolness under pressure to turn things around when they needed to and, once again, showed how dangerous they are with ball in hand, having now passed 400 points for the season and with a record of P12 W10 D1 L1.

FINAL SCORE: Newbury 41 Marlow 36

Scorers
Tries: Fraser 3, Louis 2, Scott 1, Arham 1
Conversions: Matt G 3