Newbury Ladies’ Plate Victory Bodes Well For Season Ahead

It was Monks Lane’s turn to play host to the annual Berkshire Cup last Sunday. Following the county’s impressive showing in the national competition, the cup provided an opportunity to showcase the best of womens’ club rugby in the area. The chance to welcome a new team to the competition also demonstrated the continuing growth of the womens’ game. Defending champions Newbury Blues approached the tournament with a squad equal parts youth and experience, and boasting several debutants eager for game time.

To align with the RFUs CARDS initiative (Creativity, Awareness, Resilience, Decision Making and Self Organisation) several alternative rules were introduced to this year’s competition, all of which promised to make for an afternoon of creative and exciting rugby.

Pool game 1: Newbury 29-0 Bracknell

In their first showing in the Berkshire Cup, Bracknell put up a spirited display, but it was the home squad who took the spoils. Early defensive scrums saw Newbury’s relatively unseasoned pack gain confidence and the upper hand, allowing the release of quick ball to the backs. Ever a threat, a second line break in as many minutes by Lizzie Harris gained valuable metres, before finding the hands of speedster Jemma Thripp, who outpaced all would-be tacklers to ground the first try of the match. With the elusive running of Harris and newcomer Sarah Yacim, combined with the increasingly confident offloading game of the forwards, Newbury continued to drive deep into Bracknell’s territory. A quickly taken penalty by scrum half Grace Towey found the hands of Lauren Hassett out wide, to score Newbury’s second of the game. As Bracknell’s scrum began to find its feet, the Newbury defence was required to step up. Emma Swinton took up the mantle with strong tackling, and Newbury’s defensive line speed began to force errors. An offside penalty gave Bracknell the chance to relieve some pressure, but with the resulting clearance only finding the waiting fullback Harris, 30 metres were soon regained by the Blues. A rare miscommunication allowed the newest Berkshire Cup competitors the opportunity to drive their maul from the resulting lineout into Blues territory. However, their most promising foray into the Blues half was soon thwarted by an impressive Lucy Mercer steal. With seconds left on the clock in the first half. Newbury’s decision to keep the ball in play down in their own 22 paid off, with Towey, Thripp and Harris combining beautifully to carry the ball beyond the Bracknell defence. With the rule that an individual player may only score one try per half in play, support on line breaks was crucial, and this interplay guaranteed a third try for the Blues, as Harris finished the move. Chloe Hunt duly added the extras before half time.
The second half saw Newbury continue to apply the pressure. After coming close within the opening minutes, an attempted clearing kick by Bracknell went wayward into the in-goal area, and the resulting footrace for the grounding was won by the Blues’ Emily Partello. Great interplay by the forwards ensued from the restart, with Lucy Mercer and Chloe Hunt combining well. The final score for the Blues came from the deadly running lines of Carys Cox, who broke through the Bracknell ranks before offloading to Kat Smith who grounded under the posts. Chloe Hunt converted to bring the final Newbury score to 29.

Pool game 2: Newbury 0-17 Reading Abbey

Newly promoted Championship 1 South side Reading Abbey were always going to be a tougher challenge for the Blues, but buoyed by their first win, it was Newbury who began the game the brighter, dominating possession and territory. Blues’ defensive line speed applied pressure to the Nuns, forcing errors and gaining territorial advantage. Carys Cox, impressive all game, came within inches of obtaining a try scoring interception for Newbury during the early minutes of the half. The game promised to be a riveting back and forth affair, and it didn’t disappoint. The Abbey scrum half was constantly alert, and a quickly taken penalty required the Blues to scramble their defence, but Emma Swinton was primed and ready to halt them in their tracks. A penalty for the Blues due to the infringing of another of the day’s rules – only one individual at a breakdown per team – allowed Newbury to recompose themselves, and instigate their own attack. On receiving the ball, the impressive Cox charged through the Nuns’ defence, gaining 20 metres in the process. The Nuns next took the momentum with a succession of penalties against Newbury. Good hands saw the Nuns get the ball through to their dangerous seven, before the Blues defence shepherded the ball into touch. Abbey now seemed slightly in the ascendency, but were unable to make the crucial break through the Blues dogged defence. Multiple attacks were thwarted in the home side’s 22, and when a Blues’ penalty found the hands of fullback Annette Tomas, it took a textbook Emma Swinton tackle to bring her down. As play opened up towards the end of the first half, the pendulum swung once more, and opportunities appeared to arise again for Newbury. Carys Cox’s intercept in open play reversed the ball’s direction. Quick hands, first left, then right took the ball back into the hands of the dangerous Cox, who charged through the Abbey lines again, only to see Tomas now forced to make a try saving tackle. Harris, Kat Smith, and Thripp combined to gain further ground in the Nuns’ half, but a score was not to be found.
The beginning of the second half broke the deadlock. From the kick-off, a well worked Abbey ball found the hands of their pacey winger, and despite a fine tackle by Blues fullback Harris, Abbey fullback Tomas carried the ball over in the corner to gain the first score of the game. A period of concerted pressure and territorial advantage followed for the Blues, but they were unable to convert this into points. Abbey began to apply pressure at the scrum, and were rewarded with Newbury penalties. A rare defensive gap allowed the Nuns number thirteen to run clear for Abbey’s second of the game. Buoyed by their lead, Abbey applied immediate pressure from the subsequent kick off, and after another break by their seven, found themselves less than a metre short. A defensive scrum for the Nuns, resulting from a knock-on metres out from the try line, was converted into an opportunity, and the ball was sent wide to find Abbey’s third try of the afternoon. Final score, 17 – 0 to Abbey.

Plate Final: Newbury 21 - 0 Reading/Crowthorne

Following on from their defeat to Reading Abbey, Newbury faced the amalgamated but player light forces of Crowthorne and Reading in the final of the Plate competition. In the interests of fair play, and in the spirit of the Berkshire Cup, with its emphasis on development, both teams agreed to play 13 a side. Newbury began the game by placing themselves under pressure, but it was their defensive prowess which soon led them to gain the upper hand in their final fixture of the day, with Sarah Yacim impressive in the tackle from the off. A chip through by scrum half Meg Mason brought Newbury within touching distance of the try line early on, only to have the ball stolen at the last. Reading and Crowthorne looked to clear lines and launch an attack of their own, but a Swinton turnover brought the ball back under Newbury control. Once again, the clever boot of Mason brought the home side agonisingly close to the whitewash. Metres out, Newbury’s forwards offloading game – strong all tournament - now paid off, with the ever-present interplay of Chloe Hunt and Lucy Mercer coming to the fore once again. An offload out of contact by debutant Kirsty Batten allowed scrum half Grace Towey to present to the waiting Mercer who crashed over for a well-deserved forwards’ try. Chloe Hunt then converted her first of three. A quickly taken penalty in their own half was next capitalised upon by the Blues. The good work of the forwards, through Batten and a cleverly delayed pass by Mercer out of contact found Lauren Hassett on the inside shoulder, who streaked clear of the defence for the Blues’ second try. Once again Chloe Hunt’s accuracy added the extras.
The second half saw Newbury immediately back on the offensive, with pressure from the kick off leading to an attacking scrum in the opposition’s half, from which the interplay of the now number 8 Kirsty Batten and scrum half Towey led to a lineout 5 meters out from the opposition try line. Newbury’s defensive strength and line out disruption continued to restrict Reading and Crowthorne to their own half. Meanwhile, the Newbury forwards’ confidence and handling flourished. The final minutes of the game saw scrum half Towey’s pace in full flow once again, initiating the move off a scrum, only to re-enter the move several phases later, succesfully breaking the line, before deftly offloading to Emily Partello to run in her second try of the day. The successful conversion by Hunt brought her tally to three out of three for the match, and drew to an end an entertaining and enjoyable contest.

Newbury will take great positivity from the Plate win on the first showing of a new squad, as they move forward to compete in their second season in Championship SouthWest 2. With another three weeks of preseason to go, recruitment for the new season still in full flow, and several members of the squad unavailable for the Berkshire Cup, competition for places is likely to be fierce. An exciting season lies ahead!

Squad: 1 Julia Etheridge , 2 Chloe Hunt, 3 Lucy Mercer 4 Sarah Yacim 5 Gaby Slevin 6 Jess Page 7 Kirsty Batten 8 Emma Robinson 9 Grace Towey 10 Kat Smith 11 Jemma Thripp 12 Emma Swinton 13 Lauren Hassett (VC) 14 Emily Partello 15 Lizzie Harris (VC) 16 Lozzie Price-Richards 18 Meg Mason (C) 19 Flo Piddington 20 Carys Cox