Newbury Blues gain a royal victory over Windsor

Windsor kicked off with the strong gusty wind behind them and immediately put the Newbury defence under pressure winning a penalty scrum, the Newbury defence remain strong and force Windsor to give away a penalty which Richard West kicks against the wind into touch. Windsor regain possession, Newbury’s lineout is not straight, and force Newbury to defend through several phases in their own half before they lose the ball allowing Newbury to relieve the pressure and kick into Windsor’s half, Newbury’s defence is up quick forcing Windsor to give away a penalty. Richard WEST kicks to touch, again Windsor win a scrum from the lineout but cough up possession when Newbury scrum half Toby SEWARD makes a great tackle allowing the Blues to attack and force the Windsor defence to concede a penalty which Richard WEST slots over against the wind 3-0, 10 min’s
Windsor’s restart is taken by Newbury and a high kick is chased and taken by Dan THORNE who passes to Steve DENNER then Toby SEWARD making good ground but Windsor’s defence makes amends a couple of phases later by forcing Newbury into making a mistake and lose possession. Windsor now make the mistake and knock on giving Newbury the scrum, from the scrum Newbury win a penalty and kick into touch, winning the lineout Newbury attack, Dan THORNE chips the ball over Windsor’s defence and is blocked but the ref plays an advantage and Matt MAHER wins the chase to touch down wide out on the right, the conversion is blown off course 8-0 15 min’s
Windsor kick off and Newbury set off on another attack keeping the ball with the forwards, good yards being made by Finn WALSH and Paul SAYERS before the Blues give away a penalty allowing Windsor to kick to touch in Newbury’s half. Josh BARTLETT comes on for Steve DENNER who suffers an injured ankle. Windsor attack but after a couple of phases lose possession allowing Josh BARTLETT to make good yards with a weaving run before passing to the supporting backs Toby SEWARD, Richard WEST, Jack MUGGRIDGE and Dan THORNE who stretch the Windsor defence taking play across the pitch, full back Tom MARTIN takes over and draws the defence to him before passing out to Jamie FUTCHER who make’s the final yards to score wide out on the right, the wind again beating the kick 13-0 20 min’s
Windsor restart and Newbury who are now playing the better rugby attack through firstly the forwards then the backs with good ground being made by forwards Rob DRYSDALE, Jamie BULL and Jack WALSH and backs Richard WEST and Dan THORNE, Windsor’s defence manages to halt the Blues progress and hold them up giving them the scrum. From the scrum Windsor attack through their backs and are only stopped when they knock on in Newbury’s 22, Newbury’s scrum holds firm and win a free kick which Richard WEST kicks into touch. Windsor keep the lineout and set up a forwards attack but lose the ball allowing the Blues to regain possession, a wayward Newbury pass gives the ball straight back to Windsor who again attack at speed through their large backs, again they make the mistake of a knock on when the try line beckons. The larger Windsor forwards help their backs out by winning the Newbury scrum and force the Blues to defend through several phases as the Windsor forwards pick and drive but again a Windsor error gives Newbury a penalty and a chance to relieve the pressure. This is short lived as they steal the lineout and mount another attack through their forwards this time they win the penalty which is slotted into touch well in Newbury’s 22, the Newbury forwards do well and steal the lineout but again Newbury give back possession when a cross field kick is easily picked up by Windsor’s winger. Luckily for the Blues another Windsor knock on halts the pressure and allows the Newbury defence to regroup, from the scrum the defensive kick is held up in the wind allowing Windsor to catch and put the Blues defence straight back under pressure and win a penalty scrum. From the scrum Windsor attack through their backs and again a forward pass halts their progress but the ref brings play back to the scrum position for a Windsor penalty, Windsor’s 10 Chris Laidler slots over to make the score 13-3 on 33 min’s
Newbury take the restart and manage to keep possession as the forwards are quickly there and take the loose ball, the forwards pick and drive through George ROBINSON-SLATER Paul SAYERS and Graham STEWART which forces the Windsor defence to infringe, Richard WEST puts the penalty into touch deep in Windsor territory. The forwards win the lineout and make good ground with a rolling maul but just as they get across the try line they make a mistake which gives Windsor the penalty and they kick to safety. From the lineout Windsor keep the momentum as they win a free kick which again is kicked with the wind into touch in the Newbury half, Newbury knock on at the lineout, Windsor do the same from the scrum and again from the Newbury scrum. Windsor make amends when their bigger pack wins Newbury’s scrum and they attack through their forwards winning a penalty which they tap and go, the frantic Newbury defence manages to hold up Windsor’s attack but concede another penalty which is slotted into touch in Newbury’s 22. Windsor take the lineout and attack through their forwards creeping across field towards the posts, they change tact and the ball is spun out to their backs who change the attack direction and a loose pass is intercepted by Josh BARTLETT who runs the length of the pitch up the left hand touch line to score, the strong wind again pushing the conversion wide of the posts 18-3 and the half time whistle, after spending so long in defence and keeping Windsor out this try turned the game Newbury’s way

Newbury kick off the second half with the strong gusty wind in their backs, Windsor take the kick off and kick into touch, a Newbury hand knocks on at the lineout giving Windsor a scrum, from the scrum Windsor keep the ball in hand and march slowly forwards and are lucky when Dan THORNE nearly takes a Windsor pass but just knocks on. Again the larger Windsor forwards easily win the scrum and keep the ball but some great Newbury forward play from Paul SAYERS, Matt MAHER and the WALSH brothers pushes them backwards, Windsor manage to recover and get a penalty when Newbury infringe at the maul. Windsor kick the penalty safely into touch and win the lineout but cough up possession when they knock on, Newbury win the scrum and the ball is fed back to the backs allowing Jack MUGGRIDGE to land a kick in Windsor’s 22 which they take and kick into touch, Newbury win the lineout but give Windsor the chance to clear as they lose possession, the clearing Windsor kick is taken by Tom MARTIN who makes one of his runs dodging several Windsor tackles before he is stopped, Newbury keep possession and a grubber kick is well chased but winger Jamie FUTCHER is pulled up for being in front of the kicker. Windsor fail to get the penalty kick to touch allowing Newbury to attack and force the Windsor defence to give away a penalty 30 yds out, the strong wind pushes the ball wide of the posts. The weather is now awful and not only have we strong gale strength gusty winds but torrential rain. Windsor take the drop out and manage to keep the ball but a great steal by Finn WALSH gets the ball back in Newbury hands, a loose pass coughs up possession to Windsor who keep it in the forwards and try to beat the weather and Newbury’s defence and march up field, this works and they win a scrum. The Windsor forwards again keep it tight and set off up field making good ground before they spill the ball, luckily for them they keep possession as the ref brings play back for a Newbury infringement and a Windsor penalty scrum, this time Windsor attack through their backs and but quickly get it back to their forwards who drive into Newbury’s 22 and win a penalty scrum. Windsor attack from the scrum and are only kept out by great Newbury defence and a big tackle from Dan THORNE, then the drive over by Dan THORNE and Jamie FUTCHER lets Newbury steal the ball and Richard WEST kicks into Windsor’s half, Windsor gather and attack but the terrible weather has changed the game and mistakes are made by both teams and the next 10 minutes are spent around a now muddy midfield area. Josh LOVE comes on for Rob DRYSDALE. Newbury are again judged to be offside from a cross field kick and this marginal decision stops a promising move. From the penalty scrum Windsor attack but after several phases they give away a penalty which Newbury kick long and into touch, from the lineout some great attacking play by the Blues gets them over the line but Windsor manage to hold them up, from the scrum the forwards attack through Paul SAYERS and Jamie BULL, the Windsor defence concedes a penalty then another from the Blues tap and go and are lucky not to get a yellow card. The rain has eased up but the wind is still strong and gusty and very wet pitch which has changed how the game can be played and means both teams are making plenty of mistakes. Newbury spill the ball from the tap penalty allowing Windsor to run out of defence but again play is stopped when Windsor give away a penalty, Richard WEST kicks to touch. Newbury spill the ball at the lineout and Windsor make good ground and are only stopped from scoring from a last ditch tackle from Tom MARTIN who then infringes and is harshly given a yellow card. Windsor spend the last few minutes attacking the Newbury line and only great Newbury defence keeps them out, finally a tackle by Jamie FUTCHER and Dan THORNE takes Windsor’s winger into touch 2 yards short of the try line and the ref blows the whistle and brings the end to a very wet and windy second half.

Credit to both teams for a good hard fought game of rugby played in the dry but windy first half and then the very wet and windy second half.

Newbury’s Man of the Match was Paul SAYERS

Newbury have now played 3 of the top four teams in their last 3 games and come away with two 4 point wins and a losing bonus point let’s hope we can continue this form next week at Salisbury who although bottom of the league nearly beat Witney on Sat losing 28-30. This league is very even and bottom half teams are beating teams at the top as Cheltenham showed by beating 3rd placed Maidenhead 26-45 only Oxford remain the form team and clear at the top. No game is a forgone conclusion.

Hope all the supporters from both teams enjoyed a good afternoon’s rugby, thanks to the Newbury supporters who have kept faith with this young squad

Squad;
Graham STEWART (c), Rob DRYSDALE, George ROBINSON-SLATER,
Jamie BULL,Paul SAYERS, Finn WALSH, Jack WALSH, Matt MAHER,
Toby SEWARD, Richard WEST, Steve DENNER, Jack MUGGRIDGE,
Dan THORNE, Jamie FUTCHER, Tom MARTIN.
Josh LOVE, Josh BARTLETT, Coach Mark VATCHER who nearly got on