Newbury travelled through wind, rain, sleet and snow to sunny Weston Super Mare for their first game in the National U17’s Cup, South West Region quarter finals, the bad weather had disappeared and the sun came out.
The KO was delayed half an hour to allow Hornets ground staff and helpers to get rid of the larger puddles on their 2nd pitch as the main pitch was deemed unplayable by the ref, a great effort to get the match played
Hornets kicked off and for the first 10 minutes both teams are getting used to the wet conditions with good defence or mistakes halting any attacking play. On 15 minutes Newbury put together a sustained attack with some good running from Charlie Pascoe, Freddie Mills and Sam Meredith taking play right up to the try line. The Hornets defence under the pressure give away a penalty Newbury run it and force Hornets to infringe again, again Newbury tap and go allowing Freddie Mills to skate over under the posts (0-5) 20 mins, a strong wind makes kicking difficult and the conversion just slips wide. Hornets are stung into action and take play into the Newbury half where they win several penalties before they decide to kick for the posts (3-5) 25 mins. For the next 10 mins play is centered around the half way line both defences managing to snuff out any attacking play. At the end of the half Newbury manage to play their way out of defence and again put Hornets under pressure on their try line, this time the penalty goes against Newbury as Freddie Mills gets across the line, allowing Hornets to clear to half way and the half time whistle is blown.
Newbury KO the second half and immediately put Hornets under pressure and after several phases of play have crossed the try line but gallant Hornets defence holds the ball up, Newbury take the 5m scrum and launch another attack but again cannot ground the ball, from the next scrum Newbury spread the ball through the backs quickly giving Jonny Lamport the space to dart through and score (3-10) 44mins. Newbury now have the upper hand and within a few minutes a deft kick over the defence by Jonny Lamport is won back by Newbury and after spinning it through the backs it reaches Charlie Pascoe who shrugs off a couple of tackles to score (3-15) 47 mins. The gallant Hornets defence is now under immense pressure and is saved on a couple of occaisions by the strong wind drifting a couple of passes forward halting thhe Newbury attacks. Newbury are now camped in the Hornets half and after an untidy Newbury scrum just in the Hornets half Newbury add to their score when another kick of the Hornets defence is recycled by Newbury through several hands to Cameron Leatham to cut through the defence to score, (3-20) 55 mins. Newbury launch another attack from the kick off and a good kick from Sam Jones forces Hornets back into their own 22, Newbury give away a penalty allowing Hornets to clear their lines. The heavy conditions are taking their toll and mistakes and great tackling from both sides halt any promising attacks. As the game draws to a close a great run from Tiago Dias is only halted by a last ditch tackle and wins Hornets the penalty which they kick to touch. Newbury win the line out and spin the ball out through the backs allowing Jonny Lamport to round his defender and score on the final whistle (3-25)
Credit must go to both teams for producing a good game of Rugby on a very wet pitch
Well done to Newbury for a great Squad performance all 18 boys playing their part in a good win
Thanks also to the great support from family and friends who turned out in force to support the boys
We couldn’t separate two boys for Man of the Match so well done to Freddie Mills and Charlie Pascoe

Squad: - A. Weekes, B. Fowley, S. Meredith J. Pearce, R. Parker,
S. McPherson, R. Butcher, R. Thompson, F. Mills, C. Pascoe,
R. Smith, S. Jones, C. Leatham, J. Lamport, T. Dias B. Tarquini,
W. Osbourne, M. Ansell.

Newbury U17’s now entertain Matson (Gloucestershire) in the South West Region Semi Final on Sunday March 18th 2-30pm KO