Newbury A's 70 - 10 Hungerford 2's

Newbury A’s 70 – 10 Hungerford II

Statistics:

Tries: P Lister (5), P Obolinksy (2), W Gibb, T Birch, N Mason
Conversions: J Wallace (7), J Ludlow (3)
Pens: -
Drop Goals: -

Man of the match: P Obolinksky

Full Line Up:

M Ellison, E Thomas, A Carter, P Obolinsky, G Beal, W Gibb (c), S Mayo, T Birch, N Mason, J Wallace, D Hancock, M Spencer, P Lister, J Spillings, J Futcher

Subs: G Bailey, J Crawford, D Smith, J Ludlow, N Crowther

Report:

The Mighty A’s travelled down the A4 looking to extend their unbeaten run against a Hungerford side they had played earlier in the season in a well fought match.

The side was mixed, with some new faces littered with the usual warriors. Newcomers Ewen Thomas, Tom Birch, Paul Lister and Jamie Futcher made their starting debuts for the mighty A’s. On paper, the A’s were confident with plenty of individual talent, although they were hopeful that the side would gel quickly.

Newbury got off to a good start, bagging a try through Paul Lister in the first five minutes. Quick hands from the backs released the road runner to go in under the posts. Newbury quickly realised they had the upper hand in the backs and were keen to get it wide as soon as possible.

Whilst Newbury knew what they were trying to do, their execution wasn’t quite up to scratch, spotting opportunities but failing to take them. A runaway try from Lister, and a opportunist try from Nick Mason saw the A’s go into half time leading 21-0.

The second half kicked off with a few fresh faces coming on. Within a minute Lister acted like any good magician and pulled a rabbit out of a hat, ensuring his wallet would be that little bit lighter after the game for the complementary jug.

Holes were opening up in the Hungerford defence and Newbury continued to rampage, adding to their tally with scores from Obolinksy and Lister (again).

Now thirty odd points ahead, the next twenty minutes were frustrating for the A’s, guilty of taking their foot off the peddle and lacking concentration. A conceded penalty in front of the sticks saw Hungerford opt to get some points on the board.

Still, the A’s tried to search for opportunities and perhaps were trying to do too much. Handling errors and bad decision making plagued the game, and the forwards were beginning to get bored of the repeated ‘Crouch, touch, pause, engage.’ A lapse in concentration saw Hungerford break to score a try of their own.

Newbury did end on a good note, adding a flurry of tries through skipper Will Gibb, Obolinksy and a fifth from Lister.

Overall a decent performance from the A’s, reflected by the score line. The errors in the second half were a concern , but there was an element of knowing the game was won. Next week sees the A’s take on Witney in a top of the table battle.

3 Good, 3 Bad
(Courtesy of Jimmy ‘Jimbo’ Spillings)

Good:
1. Good understanding and use of the moves and set patterns by both the forwards and backs
2. Good lines being run, on and off the ball
3. Good kicking, considering the windy conditions

Bad:
1. General ball handling – too many knock ons, missed/dropped passes
2. Keeping depth in the backs – far too flat most of the time
3. Tackling – when the broke the line we let them get too far

Captains Section

“Some good individual performances with the score line reflecting the Newbury A’s dominance. To have a full 15 with 5 on the bench is a real achievement with new (and old!) faces returning! Hopefully by this weekends meeting with Witney 4’s, the team can ‘gel’ a bit more with a more cohesive team performance. Thank you to those who helped – Brian, Paicey, Lenny and Jo (physio) “