The Blues traveled to Crowthorne in confident mood with a full compliment of 21 squad players but captain Lou Goodall, a veteran of countless bruising encounters against the hosts, made it clear in her pre-match talk that nothing should be taken for granted against a strong, physical opposition.

Newbury took note and set out to establish themselves in the Crowthorne twenty-two; debutant Charlotte Williams made an immediate impact with some barnstorming line breaks from inside centre, but it took the Blues some time to answer Crowthorne's aggressive rucking and the first half was a scrappy affair. Newbury had the edge in set pieces though, especially the line out as they welcomed back influential jumper Laura Smith, and after a series of strong scrums they squandered a couple of good try scoring chances as a result of poor decision making on the final ball.

They were almost made to pay when Crowthorne's dangerous back line finally found a gap and sent their 12 through on a 30 metre run. A fantastic chase from Lizzie Harris and Emma Horner forced her to drop the ball over the line and Horner reacted quickly to snuff out the danger. Other than that, Crowthorne never looked like breaching their visitor's strong defense and the half finished scoreless.

The Blues regrouped at half time and within ten minutes of the restart they had found more of a rhythm, stringing together some neat phases and forcing Crowthorne into both errors and penalties. They were within inches of the line twice in succession through Williams and flanker Megan Horwood, but they finally found the weak point in the line when a switch of direction from a scrum released Emma Horner for a great finish in the corner.

Crowthorne tried to respond with typical aggression but they were rattled nonetheless, and a Newbury pack refreshed by substitutions put them to the sword. Newbury's strong set piece platform and a far cleaner ruck finally almost resulted in a second try when flanker Laura Smith chipped a beautifully weighted over the heads of Crowthorne's defensive line and invitingly over the try line. Substitute winger Grace Towey bravely pounced on the loose ball but just failed to keep control under pressure from her opposite number.

It was deservedly the forwards who made the breakthrough for try two. A strong maul on the right wing brought them within metres of the line but a poor ball from the scrum half squandered what should have been a try-scoring chance for the backs. Newbury showed characteristic tenacity to correct the error and forced Crowthorne into a desperate kick into the opposite touchline. A perfect line out allowed the pack to repeat the maul and hooker Rosie Brenton, who had not put a foot wrong all day, capped another strong performance with the score.

With five minutes to go Newbury put the result beyond doubt when another string of neat phases found Sophie Dowson on the left wing. Despite having been on the pitch for a matter of minutes, Dowson underlined her potential with an unstoppable 15 metre burst, shaking off two tackles and flirting with the touchline before diving into the corner to finish.

The three points puts clear water between Newbury and Crowthorne in the table, but the manner of the victory was the most pleasing aspect of the day; after a stylish win against Windsor, this game proved that the Blues are able to grind out results when they need to.

Tries: Emma Horner, Rosie Brenton, Sohie Dowson
Back of the match: Emma Horner
Forward of the match: Laura Smith