On an intermittently sunny afternoon at Abingdon Rugby Club Newbury Stags lost to a strong second half display from Abingdon whose backline ran in several tries in a 20 minute period impacted in part by Newbury receiving a yellow card. Newbury Stags stuck to the task and had the last word but it was too little too late.

Abingdon opened the scoring with a try from their backs following a Newbury missed tackle, the score was under the posts and converted but all the kickers should be congratulated for their prowess in successfully converting all 13 tries with some of the kicks not being so straightforward. Newbury had the upper hand in the scrum most of the game and a ball won against the head was quickly used by Sid Adams in a solo break to the blind side from just outside the 22 and he scampered over the line to score. Abingdon scored another try following a lineout maul where they got to Newbury’s line and multiple pick and go attempts led to the try. There was then a messy period with a few handling errors and loose kicks from which Abingdon’s fullback then made a run and after some phases they were able to send the ball wide, Newbury managed to defend this but were left helpless when Abingdon cut back inside and scored through the middle.

After that Newbury advanced up the pitch and had there own set of phases on the Abingdon line with the resolute defence eventually holding up George Robinson-Slater over the line resulting in a goal line kick. The kick was collected and run back at Abingdon with Newbury again getting to Abingdon’s line where the pressure told as Nyasha Maphosa dived over for another Newbury score converted by Travis Boulton. From the subsequent restart kick Michael Duppa-Miller ran the ball back into the Abingdon half and after a couple of quick ruck recycles a high tackle brought Newbury a penalty that was kicked to the corner for an attacking lineout. Unfortunately Newbury’s lineout execution went awry with a knock on resulting in a scrum from which a kicking exchange led to another Abingdon attack getting the ball to their wing to score the last try of the half with the conversion taking the score to 28-14.

Injury forced a Newbury change at half time as Travis Boulton was replaced by Michael Hammond requiring a shuffle of the backline with Sean Siggeman moving to Fly Half. After the restart Newbury set up a driving maul from a lineout and in his new position Sean Siggeman received the ball from the back of the advancing maul, sidestepped a couple of defenders and ran in for a try under the posts. Sid Adams added the conversion having taken over the kicking duties.

That score closed the gap to 7 points but seemed to spur Abingdon on as they scored 5 tries in the space of 20 minutes. The first was from their backs after Newbury staunchly defended their line from another series of pick and gos but the defence was then narrowed and Abingdon moved the ball wide to score. The next try was almost from the restart and one deft offload in a tackle followed by another got Abingdon around the Newbury backline to score wide again with both try conversions successful despite the angles. The third try was a further set of pick and gos on Newbury’s line which this time was breached without the need to use their backs. Newbury’s number 8 received a yellow card for a high tackle in the effort to hold the line and Newbury were then down to 14 men. Despite that Newbury managed to make inroads to the Abingdon half and a slick backs move looked to be heading for a score until a dropped pass fell in front of an Abingdon player who hacked through and scooped up the bouncing ball to score despite some valiant chasing back by Newbury. Abingdon’s final try came from a scrum where they had steadied their one weakness and their backs moved the ball out to the wide channel for the score. The yellow card period expired but as the player returned an injury to Ted Dyer forced him off the pitch although thankfully he bravely returned a few minutes later following attention from the physio.

Newbury were not done though as a couple of penalties helped them back into Abingdon’s 22 where another penalty was quickly taken and the forwards had another arm wrestle on the try line as Newbury repeatedly burrowed in and Abingdon repelled them. Ethan David-John eventually broke the deadlock with a powerful finish. Abingdon had one last chance to score again from another hacked through ball but this time Euan Baird sprinted back to not only stop the play but collect the ball and attempt to counter. A knock on brought the game to a close with a final score of 63-28 in front of the throughly entertained supporters including a number who had made the trip from Newbury.