Following last week’s victory Newbury 2nds went into their first home game with optimism despite a much changed team caused by injuries and other player unavailability. Several players had been deservedly elevated to the Blues leaving Stags with limited back line options in key positions, Sidney Cannon and Bertie Donald stepped up from Colts for their Stags debuts at fly-half and full-back respectively, and veteran Michael Hammond returned from injury for his first game of the season. Club stalwarts Graham Stewart and Dan Evans came onto the bench with Cole Whorriskey, Alex Leadbetter and Taylor Bangezhano starting after good performances off the bench a week earlier.

Stags started brightly putting pressure on Aldermaston leading to the award of a penalty but progress was halted when the attempted aggressive kick to the corner drifted too far giving Aldermaston a reprieve and a scrum. Newbury regrouped and were soon back on the attack moving the ball to the left until a pass went astray in the midfield but this was quickly tidied up and run back the other way. Much better handling got the ball to Euan Baird playing at Centre instead of his usual wing position and he sped away for the first try of the game converted by Sidney Cannon for a 7-0 lead.

Aldermaston were soon back into the game with a penalty allowing them to move up the field and some strong runs from their forwards created space for their first try which was converted to level the score at 7 each. The game was then played in the middle of the pitch with a few phases from either side until a knock on led to a scrum where unfortunately Gareth Barnett fell victim to an injury that required him to be replaced by the evergreen Graham Stewart. Newbury’s defence kept Aldermaston at bay and when a penalty was awarded at a midfield scrum they decided to take 3 points rather than go for more taking the lead at 7-10. Aldermaston’s kicking from the tee was to be a telling factor of the afternoon but their next points came from a goal line kick out that was returned with an audacious drop-goal extending their advantage to 7-13.

Back on the attack Aldermaston’s runners were being stopped and occasionally driven back by Newbury’s tackles with Ethan David-John, Dylan Norman and Jack Husbands to the fore. A prolonged period in defence with many phases meant eventually a gap appeared which Aldermaston made the most of to score their second try, duly converted for a 7-20 score line. A further injury in Newbury’s ranks to Number eight Jack Husbands resulted in him being replaced by usual second row Michael Duppa-Miller who brought some more energy just before half time. Aldermaston gaining confidence in attack were soon camped on Newbury’s line again but their defence held firm and a big tackle freed the ball that was gathered by Euan Baird who ran the length of the pitch to touch down under the posts for a simple conversion to reach half time at 14-20.

George Robinson-Slater took his men into the changing rooms with the 6 point deficit looking better than it could have been a few minutes before. The second period started with a tight battle as neither team could break through in an increasingly physical contest but Newbury were adjudged to have gone a step too far with a ruck clear out earning them a yellow card. The penalty attempt was the one blot on Aldermaston’s kicking as the ball hit the post and bounced back into play with Newbury bravely starting a counter attack from under their own posts. A man down they continued to repel the attacks and even had some success going forward but eventually the numbers told. Aldermaston’s number 8 picked up from a scrum and tied in the back row with the ball being moved to their backs who ran in a third try. There was no mistake off the tee this time for an increased lead at 14-27. That would be the only score in the yellow card period but as further pressure followed Newbury’s resilient tackling kept them in the game. In the face of the Stags iron resolve Aldermaston tried kicking through and a race to the touch down was won by Newbury for a goal line drop out. The kick chase was good but Newbury’s player got stuck on the floor and with the ball was also trapped a penalty was awarded for not rolling away from the tackle. That gave Aldermaston the chance at another 3 points they gratefully took to stretch the lead beyond two converted tries at 14-30.

Faced with the substantial deficit Newbury seemed to kick up a gear and some forward progress from strong runs advanced them into Aldermaston’s 22. Quick ball and slick handling got the ball to Sam Croton a back rower who was deputising as a Centre loitering on the wing. He channeled his inner winger with an acrobatic dive to keep his legs off the floor as he grounded the ball for the try of the day breaking the corner flag in the process. The difficult conversion was missed so the score then stood at 19-30 and Newbury felt they had a chance. From the restart Aldermaston got back into their stride and were able to contain the rejuvenated Stags who were looking to close the score further. The next score was to be another penalty from Aldermaston so they were 19-33 up and using their penalty time to take every second they could off the clock.

Newbury were not done yet as Bertie Donald grabbed an interception streaking away for a fourth try keeping the conversion simple again as Sidney Cannon got Newbury back within a converted try at 26-33. Stags hard work in defence had brought them back into contention but a couple of breakdown penalties for being too entusiastic to get to Aldermaston's scrum half led to a second yellow card and a fourth penalty for Aldermaston putting the score at 26-36 wth time running out. Captain Ted Dyer would add a fifth try from a well worked lineout maul for the final result to be 31-36 for a narrow defeat. The game was played in a great spirit by both sides who retired to the bar for some further competitive fun.