Newbury Blues head coach Paul Archer keen on maintaining happy atmosphere at Monks Lane

Newbury Blues head coach Paul Archer has admitted that the club have re-structured some parts of the playing system in order to maintain an enjoyable atmosphere.

It was revealed that the Colts, usually the under-18s squad, will now work together with the senior team in order to strengthen the relationship between everyone at Monks Lane.

Speaking about the structure change, Archer said: “It’s done so we can smooth the pathway from people in sixth form moving into senior rugby.

“We want to increase the flow of home grown talent into the senior teams because we have had massive success in the last few years.

“We want to keep people in the game, so they have a home, and somewhere where they can play rugby and where they know the environment so we can create an enjoyable atmosphere.”

Blues will meet up as a squad again for pre-season in the next few weeks, with training taking place at 7.30pm every Tuesday and Thursday.

Archer was speaking after Newbury hosted a super 7s series at Monks Lane, with a number of high-level players coming to play, including Fiji international Semi Radradra.

He said: “We have shown as a club that we can host big events again and it’s great to have the super 7s series at Newbury.

“The standard of the competition was high, it was a good day and there was some good rugby on show.

“Semi Radradra played for the Wooden Spoon Marauders and he is a global superstar, so it was great to see him give some time to the spectators before he flies off to play for Fiji at the Olympics.”