Blues keep up the bonus point wins

BANBURY 20 v 28 NEWBURY BLUES

Blues keep up the bonus point wins

Saturday 1st Oct 2016, South West 1 East League, 3 pm KO

Newbury Blues travelled to newly promoted Banbury with a changed squad after a couple of last minute changes

Blues make late changes to the published squad due to injuries to Josh Bartlett and Anthony Hackett in training on Thursday, bringing in Toby Pearce and Josh Love.

On a day which had began with driving rain, it was bring sunshine at the impressive Banbury ground with a firm and very good playing surface.

Blues had the upper hand in the early exchanges, creating early chances but not being able to convert the pressure into points. Banbury looked dangerous on the counter attack and Blues were feeding them possession with errors and spilt balls.

Blood Replacement – Iain Herriott off, Josh Love on

The Blues then had a good spell of possession and the ball went wide to debutant Toby Pearce, with 2 metres to work in, he stepped around his opposite number and was supported by Josh Love who opened the scoring for Newbury Blues after 15 mins, Dan Thorne converting 0-7 9 mins

Blues continue to look dangerous with ball in hand and are making line breaks, but with the last pass not going to hand or the wrong decision, Banbury use the turnover possession well and make good ground especially with their half back pairing. But the Blues are then penalised at a break down giving Banbury and easy 3 points 3-7

23 mins – Blood reversal

The remainder of the half continued as the Blues spurned numerous scoring opprtunites and are unable to add to their points for the remainder of the first half, but Banbury who enjoyed a good spell of possession score an injury time try to go in at half time 10-7

*****

A few minutes into the second half Banbury have increased their lead when they kick another penalty 13-7 46 min’s

45 mins Alex Miller, Josh Love on – Chris Guyatt, Jake Richardson off

Blues re-group and from the kick off No8 Alex Miller makes his presence felt with an impressive tackle which resulted in an knock on. Blues ever dependant scrum win the ball and after a series of phases it was Millar who took the ball at pace and brushing aside 4 Banbury defenders scored an important try for Blues, with Dan Thorne kicking the conversion which puts Blues narrowly in the lead 13-14 48 min’s

48 mins Ben Hicks on – Graham Stewart off

Blues now have the upper hand in areas of the pitch with the substitutions making their impact on the game. Banbury’s scrum was starting to creak, allowing the Blues to have good set piece possession and with the passes now sticking Blues extend their lead even further when Ryan Davis scores in the corner after a well worked team try and Dan Thorne converts from the touchline 13-21 63 min’s

Ryan Davis off – Chris Guyatt on

Blues receive the kick off and are quickly in the points again when Joe Pigott scores the bonus point try and Dan Thorne is again successful with the conversion, 13-28 65 mins

Blues continue to pressure Banbury, but it was the hosts who were determined to score and try and retrieve a bonus point, a questionable yellow card meaning Blues were down to 14 for the last 5 minutes. Blues then picked up a further yellow card, putting the Blues down to 13 with seconds to go and Banbury score a try in injury time plus the conversion making the final score 20-28

This was a good performance but the Blues against a good Banbury side, who will be strong at home during the season. The Blues will be pleased with the 5 points but with a run of testing games coming up in the next month or so, they will need to convert their numerous scoring opportunities into points if they are to continue the good start to the season.

Squad
Graham Stewart, Rob Drysdale, James Macauley, Jon Bastable, Kyle Doel, Chris Guyatt,
Ryan Davis, Rory Jones, Joe Pigott, Dan Thorne, Toby Pearce, Jake Richardson,
Iain Herriott, Mike Walker, Toby Thorne, Ben Hicks, Alex Millar, Josh Love

Next week Saturday 8th Oct, Blues are at home against Chippenham who were relegated last season. This will be a tough game as Chippenham haven’t won yet but only just lost out by a single point to league leaders Maidenhead this Saturday and will want to kick start their league campaign at Monks Lane.

Report from Banbury's website
BANBURY 20-28 NEWBURY BLUES
Bulls so close and yet….
By Simon Grieve
Banbury narrowly missed out on a losing bonus point against Newbury on Saturday as basic errors cost them a first home win of the season.
Bodicote Park - Saturday 1st October 2016
Match report by Ed Phillips, action photos by Jessica Rogers.
The game started in bright sunshine and at a frantic pace. Newbury received the kick off and started as they meant to go on, the forwards producing clean quick ball and the backs moving the ball slickly with pace. Banbury struggled to cope with the speed of the game initially, but scrambled well on numerous occasions to keep Newbury from crossing the line. Eventually pressure told and Banbury found themselves 7-0 behind. Newbury then missed a kickable penalty and Banbury stuttered into life.
A chance went begging before Banbury got on the score board through Sam Stoop. Stoop started the move with a deep kick that wasn’t gathered cleanly by the Newbury full back, Banbury took a quick lineout through man-of-the-match Jack Briggs and recycled the ball, it was spread wide Stoop eventually went over the line unchallenged after Josh Deegan off loaded out of contact. With stand-in captain Ed Phillips adding the extras to level the scores at 7 all. Like Newbury, The Bulls were awarded a penalty soon after scoring and Phillips made no mistake, 10-7 to the host’s. Although the half ended with Banbury in the lead they had to survive another scare. On reflection Newbury probably edged the first half but it had the makings of an exciting game.
Banbury came out the stronger in the second half, and added to their lead through the boot of Phillips, making the score 13-7 and Banbury started to believe they were the better side. This belief was crushed just moments later when they failed to gather the resulting kick off and Newbury were over the line and in the lead following the conversion. This had a detrimental effect on the game from the Bulls point of view. Newbury got their tails up and Banbury failed to deal with the hard running line from the visitors. And they added two more converted tries that were a result of Banbury’s soft defence.
With the score now 13-28 to Newbury, the heavens opened and it made chasing the game even harder for Banbury. Newbury played the conditions perfectly, kicking behand the home side and making them work from deep in their own half.
With just a few minutes left on the clock Banbury gained some momentum and a string of penalties saw them march up the field. In the process Newbury were reduced to 13 men through two yellow cards. The first for dangerous play when clearing at the break down and the second for throwing the ball away after a penalty was conceded. Although Cash Chilvers crossed for his first try in Banbury colours and Phillips added the conversion, that was to be the final play of the game so there was no time left for Banbury to get the point the needed to gain a losing bonus point.
The final score was 20-28. Banbury will look back at missed tackles in midfield and how easily they coughed up the ball in the oppositions 22 as the major reasons they lost this game, but it is important they draw from the many positives in their game against a solid Newbury side.