Newbury Nab Drybrook Dozen

As has been prominent in their fixtures to date, Newbury laid down their intent early with strong pressure from the kick off. Facing another powerful forwards pack, the opening scrum of the game reflected the midweek work put in by the Blues, holding firm. Scrum half Devon Holt making a nuisance of herself early on and forcing a Drybrook error.

The first of the afternoon’s tries came from good work from the forwards in defence, pressuring the opposition and forcing a turnover, which was deftly popped into the hands of Holt, who scampered through the Drybrook defence to score in the corner.

With ball in hand, the home side looked to use their powerful forwards to drive up the pitch. Newbury’s well drilled defence was equal to the task however. With captain Meg Mason's cool head using the boot sensibly, clearing lines pushed Drybrook into their twenty-two. An attempted clearance kick by the home side was charged down by hooker Roxy Fauconnier before being fired across the backline and into the waiting arms of Jemma Thripp to run in her first of the day.

Newbury’s third, and arguably best try came from the next kick off. Caught by Kat Smith and offloaded out of contact, the running lines and passing of both backs and forwards combined beautifully to drag Drybrook from one side of the pitch to the other, before the dancing feet of Thripp outmanoeuvred the remaining defenders.

Clever kicking, and the lucky (unlucky for Drybrook) bounce of the ball from a Blues' clearance afforded the next into the hands of chasing fullback Lizzie Harris, who sprinted the sixty remaining metres to score. Next Sophie Dowson – evidently having watched Dyantyi that morning - finshed off the fifth with a cheeky sidestep to score under the posts.

The game wasn’t to be all Newbury’s way, and to their credit Drybrook were keeping their heads up and sticking to their game plan. Their strategy of pick and go carrying them forward at each attempt, and forcing Newbury to defend hard. From a penalty they carried deep into the Blues twenty two before the pressure from their powerful pack carried them over the whitewash.

Despite the efforts of defending against such a strong pack, the forwards' scrum set up the next, before quick hands found outside centre Dowson again to run in under the sticks. The final of the first half was an impressive solo try by scrum half Holt, who, having received the kick off, deceived both defence and attack alike with a weaving run to the try line.

The second half began with three more tries to Newbury – outside centre Dowson completing her hattrick following a fine missed pass from captain Meg Mason, Thripp gaining her third from a powerful evasive run from her own twenty-two, and then the most outlandish of tries from second row Emma Robinson, which saw her call her footballing skills into action, first chipping the defence, before controlling the ball on foot all the way to the try line to score.

The first half efforts of the Blues now began to take a slight toll, with penalties beginning to creep in, and the dogged Drybrook pack still pressing ever onwards in possession. Newbury once again found themselves defending ten metres out. With the defence holding strong however, it took a fine dive over the breakdown from the Drybrook substitute scrum half to gain their second try.

The number of scrums and penalties slowly began to creep up on both sides. From a Newbury penalty, another well chosen missed pass found Dowson who released to speedster Thripp. She broke through the Drybrook line, evading all tacklers to run in her fourth, before gaining her fifth from the resulting restart. Captain Mason rounded off an impressive day with the boot kicking the last of nine successful conversions.

To their great credit Drybrook never gave up, and it was they who gained the final spoils of the game from a well worked penalty, before an impressive conversion.

After two very physical games, Newbury will be glad of the two week break they now enjoy, and can take to prepare for their next match – home against Guildford on the 7th October.

Having asked his team to work hard in response to last week's result, head coach Joe Harwood was pleased with the day's outcome, proclaiming it:
“The best birthday present I could ask for”

Tries:
D. Holt 2
J. Thripp 5
L. Harris 1
S. Dowson 3
E.Robinson 1

Conversions:
M. Mason 9

Photo credit Michael Lovering / mictheslik.zenfolio.com