Newbury Blues 34 v 7 Reading
Newbury Blues secured a bonus point win against Reading in what turned out to be a one sided affair.
Local derby matches can produce surprise results and despite Reading’s league position, the Blues were taking this game seriously, as Reading had run the league leaders close the previous week.
Reading started the better team and after Blues received a yellow card for an alleged dangerous tackle, Reading scored a well-executed try in the 4th minute which was converted to give them an early 0-7 lead.
This seemed to spark the Blues into life and Newbury were putting Reading under pressure in the scrum and in open play. The Blues were finding holes in the Reading defence and they were dominating territory, but they were unable to score to either falling foul of the referees whistle or taking the wrong option.
Blues eventually got on the score sheet with a long range penalty from Ryan Trevaskis. 3-7
Newbury continued to apply pressure but they could not add to the score at half time.
Newbury with the wind behind them knew that the scores would become available if they remained patient and stuck to the game plan.
The 2nd half started with the Blues pinning Reading in their own half. An injury to Dylan Stewart gave new boy Matt Horne his debut game and after a series of phases the Blues were awared a penalty which Trevaskis converted making the score 6-7.
Blues took the kick off and immediate went back on the attack after a series of phases a 5m scrum was awarded. Reading then engaged early and number 8 Winfield wasted no time and took a quick tap from the freekick and dived over from 5m, Trevaskis added the extras. 10-7
The Blues were now in complete control and it wasn’t long before Toby Thorne went over for try, with Trevaskis again converting. 17-7
Reading were now dropping off tackles and could not gain any ground or string phases together the Blues were firmly camped in their half. This resulted in a penalty being awarded, but instead of taking the easy 3 points, new boy Horne took the tap penalty and crashed through numerous tackles for a debut try, Trevaskis again added the extras. 24-7
George Robinson Slater came on for Ben Hicks and Andy Heriott came on for Joe Piggot.
Blues continued to apply pressure and were chasing the try bonus point, but were still falling foul of the referees whistle. An injury to Kyle Doel meant that Ben Hicks returned to game.
Reading were hanging on, but they just didn’t have the firepower to stop the Blues and it was Matt Horne who went over for double and more importantly the bonus point score. The impeccable Trevaskis again added the conversion making the final score 34 -7.
Reading will be disappointed in their performance, but this was an impressive display by the Blues and they played some excellent rugby. The backrow were immense and Josh Love deservedly received Man of the Match. All the replacements staked their claim for a start next week and the coaches will again have some tough selection decisions to make for the next game away to Oxford Harlequins.
SQUAD
Ben Hicks, Rob Drysdale, Graham Stewart, Kyle Doel, Ben O'Shea
Dylan Stewart, Josh Love, Josh Winfield, Joe Pigott, Ryan Trevaskis
Steve Denner, Iain Herriott, Dan Thorne, Toby Thorne, Josh Bartlett
George Robinson-Slater, Matt Horne, Andy Herriott
Report Courtesy of Head Coach Lee Goodall