With several players unavailable through injury, unavailability and illness, the Blues fielded a changed side against Cleve who were unbeaten at home.

On a sunny afternoon and excellent playing surface it was the Blues that got off to the perfect start, the ball was won from a lineout and Dylan Stewart made the hard yards in the middle of the pitch, quick ball was produced and some swift handling, the ball was passed to Toby Thorne to score in the corner, Ryan Trevaskis missed the tough conversion. 0-5

Newbury take the restart and look to mount another attack, this was met with a resolute Cleve defence, the ball was spilt in attack and Cleve look to counter, gaining territory into the Blues 22, this pressure resulted in the Blues giving away a penalty, with Cleve kick to the corner, Blues hold the Cleve multi phase Cleve attack, but Cleve pushed to early in the scrum and the pressure was relived with the referee giving the Bl.ues a free kick.

Cleve then change their attacking option and start to use kicks to the corners, trying to turn the Blues defence, but another penalty relives the pressure. This pattern of play continues with both teams attacking, with Cleve having the upper hand, but from another kick, the Blues the look to clear their lines and Richard West’s kick being charged down, the bouncing ball ends up in Ollie spanswicks hands and despite the call for offside, he charges up the pitch, the Blues then hack through and Josh Love fails to collect the ball for certain try, Cleve clear their line.

Play is then mainly between the 22’s with both teams launching attacks, Cleve continue to use their kicking strategy and form a high ball Toby Thorne jumps to compete and lands awkwardly which results in a serious injury to him and the game being delayed for 35 minutes.

Toby Thorne off, Rhys Davies on

From the restart it is Cleve who start the brighter launching a sustained attack on the Blues line with results in a try, the conversion missed 5-5

This score seemed to wake the Blues up and they look to launch another attack, this was thwarted, and Cleve gain further territory and with some powerful runs make their way into the Blues 22, some strong carrying and driving play by the forwards and another try was scored, with the conversion successful. 12-5

Blues then raised the tempo and with some great play got into Cleve 22, but again the ball was spilt, and Cleve cleared their lines.

With 10 mins to go Blues got into the Cleves 22 and form a lineout went to drive Cleve over the line, the ball was held up in the maul and Cleve got the turnover, from the scrum Blues got a penalty and Rhys Davies went for the quick tap but unfortunately, he knocked the ball on and Cleve cleared their line.

From this the Blues were in ascendency launching several attacks on the Cleve line, with strong carries form Adam Neal and Josh Winfield, after several phases the Blues look to have an overlap but again the ball was knocked on, Cleve used the free play to counter, from the scrappy play Toby Pearce chased a lick through which resulted in a injury.

Toby Pearce off, Duncan Craigen on

The rest of the half was played mainly in the Cleve half but with no further scores.

HT 12-5

Blues started the 2nd half as they did the first, form the kick off Blues attacked and strong carry by Josh Winfield released Joe Piggot to score in the corner, with Ryan Trevaskis bagging the conversion. 12-12.

This score sparked the game into life and both sides raised the tempo of the game, with Blues playing the slightly better game, but with a higher error count, this resulted in Blues giving away a couple of penalties, which Cleve kick to the corner, the drive was stopped at source and from the scrum the Blues and with the clearance kicked to touch missed, Cleve launched a multi-phases attack, but a knock on stopped this attack and Blues looked to counter, Ryan Trevaskis made the break and with Dylan Stewart outside it looked like another score, but unfortunately the pass didn’t go to hand.

Blues attacked the scrum, and this put Cleve on the back foot, a spilt ball in the middle of the pitch was scooped up by Dan Thorne who sprinted under the posts to score the Blues 3rd Try, with Ryan Trevaskis adding the extras. 12-19

Ben Hicks off, Graham Stewart on

Blues now had Cleve under pressure and from the Kick off looked to attack again, but Cleve has other ideas and with some astute licking launched an attack in the Blues 22, after multiple phases the Blues turned to the ball over, but a knock on at the resulting scrum handed the ball back to Cleve, Blues were now defending their line and after holding up the lineout the ball was spun wide for the try, with the conversion being scored from a bounce on the crossbar. 19-19

The game was then anyone’s and the Blues went on the attack form the kickoff, after several phases the Blues made their way into Cleves 22, but again he ball was lost in contact. But the Blues regained possession and after some strong forward runs a penalty was awarded and Ryan Trevaskis calmly slotted the 3 points. 19 – 22

With only 10 mins of the game left Blues knew one more score would finish the game. Unfortunately the Blues failed to get their clearance kicks into touch, which put them under pressure, this gave Cleve territorial advantage, Cleve then launched a sustained attack and spun the ball across the pitch and with some excellent footwork, Cleve scored a well worked try, conversion successful. 26 – 22

Jon Bastable off, Ben Hicks on

Blues then threw everything at Cleve to get the bonus point and more importantly the win, unfortunately they could not penetrate the Cleve defence, Newbury continued to attack ad with a kick through by Joe Piggot, it looked like a score maybe available, this was stopped and a counter attack launched, the Cleve winger making a great break, but some resolute defence stopped this score.

Blues then launched their final attack but could get the break they need to get the last try. Final score 26-22

This was certainly a game the Blues could have won. But too many handling and unforced errors meant that the Blues couldn’t get that elusive score; a further lesson learnt that any errors will be punished at this level.

The next game is at Home against Brixham and although it’s still in the first half of the season, this game has significant importance in order for Blues to improve their league position.

Newbury Squad
Ben Hicks, Rob Drysdale, James Macauley, Jon Bastable, Adam Neal, Dylan Stewart,
Ollie Spanswick, Josh Winfield, Joe Pigott, Richard West, Toby Pearce, Josh Love,
Dan Thorne, Toby Thorne, Ryan Trevaskis, Graham Stewart, Duncan Craigen, Rhys Davies