Battling Blues are pipped at the post

Head coach Archer is ready to bounce back against Launceston

NEWBURY Blues head coach Paul Archer praised his side’s battling qualities, despite their 27-24 defeat to Ivybridge on Saturday.

Blues scored a late try to level the scores at 24-24, but a drop-goal inside the final minute proved to be decisive.

Despite Newbury falling to their fourth defeat from five games in South West Premier, Archer believes his side gave a good account of themselves.

He said: “It was another game where we have acquitted ourselves very well, but Ivybridge were very good defensively and they were very difficult to break down.

“We equally matched up and we should have had a penalty try because we pushed the scrum over the line.

“The referee awarded a penalty, we restarted the scrum and we contrived not to score from that position.

“I challenged the referee after the game, but he had his reasons.

“It was tough to take at the time because it looked pretty nailed on to me.”

In previous games, Blues have struggled at the start of the second half and it was no different on Saturday.

Archer said: “Unfortunately in the second half, where we have been caught napping previously, the same thing happened again.

“We didn’t gather the restart and all of a sudden they scored and it looked like the game was going away from us.”

Despite Blues never leading, Archer was happy with his side’s determination to battle until the end.

He said: “Massive credit to the boys to come back into it and although we were never ahead in the game, we matched them punch-for-punch.

“It was a tough result to take because the boys played really well – it was a very physical battle and to stand up and be counted is a positive.”

Blues host bottom club Launceston at Monks Lane on Saturday, providing them with a good chance to collect their second win of the campaign.

Archer said: “Margins are really fine and we have a massive opportunity to put things right this weekend and nail down a decent home record.

“Even though they lost last weekend, they had a really good result against Maidenhead who are never easy to play against.”