Newbury A’s take the Honours in Local Derby

Newbury suffered 2 injuries in the warm up forcing some last minute changes. Newbury started the first half in determined mood and were a try up after only 10 mins. Thatcham hit back almost immediately with a try from their backline. This inspired the Newbury A’s to step up a gear and put the Thatcham defence under long spells of pressure despite a head injury to Jamie Wallace and shoulder injury to Jamie Bull. Newbury then managed to grab two tries in quick succession after some great backs play and this lifted the mood of the home supporters. Just before the half time whistle, Thatcham capitalised on a Newbury unforced error and ran the length of the pitch to score.

After Half time, Newbury seemed to ease off the tempo and this encouraged Thatcham to build up momentum through their scrum and breaking the otherwise, solid Newbury defence. The two Thatcham tries and conversions put Thatcham ahead for the first time in the game. Again, this spurred the Newbury team on and after some powerful rolling mauls by the forwards, Newbury crashed over the line. Two more tries from Dave Jones and Jimmy Spillings started to push the game further from Thatcham’s grasp. Hard work in open play by Nick Weston, Ali Carter and Nigel Cripps helped the Newbury team create an attacking platform, which resulted in Dave Hancock crossing the line to seal victory.

Man of the Match: Ali Carter

Newbury Team: Carter, Weston, Stewart, Beal, Bull, Gibb ©, Mayo, Cripps, N Mason, S Mason, Hancock, Wallace, Jones, Spillings, Blowfield, Smith, Burney, Codling

Report coutesy of Will Gibb