Purple patch for red hot Newbury Blues
Newbury Blues celebrated a fourth successive Regional 2 Tribute South Central bonus point win at the weekend, beating Oxfordshire outfit Grove 37-26.
Head coach James McAvoy made four changes to the side that beat Devizes as captain Dan Thorne returned to the side along with Graham Stewart, Harry Waye-Branch and George Butler while Robbie Drysdale won his 200th Blues cap.
Blues started well in Oxfordshire and were ahead eight minutes in when Jamie Futcher was released on the left hand side to cross for the visitors' first score of the afternoon before the returning Thorne sent his conversion just wide.
Grove responded and scored two tries in quick succession either side of three Blues’ points from the boot of Thorne, moving the score on to 14-8 to the hosts.
Blues battled back before the break, Thorne kicking a penalty before the in-form Michael Klichowicz chased down an excellent kick to score Newbury’s second try of the afternoon.
Thorne duly added the three points and Blues had the lead, the visitors 18-14 up at half time.
The second half started in a similar vein, the influential Miles Albert crossing in the 48th minute, Thorne adding the extra two and Blues extending their lead to 25-14.
Grove soon moved back within touching distance, scoring from a line-out to reduce the arrears to 25-21.
Two minutes later and Blues were two scores clear once again, Will Osborne releasing Kris Ford who crossed out wide to secure a bonus point for the visitors on the hour and move the score to 30-21.
Newbury’s fifth and final try came with seven minutes left on the clock, George Butler finishing off a fluid move and Thorne nailing the long conversion to take the visitors into a 37-21 lead.
A determined Grove side refused to give up and were rewarded late on when they powered over to earn themselves a losing bonus point, the final score 37-26.
In-form Blues remain fifth in the league table but with Tottonians – who Newbury beat last month – now well within their sights.
James McAvoy was delighted with his side's performance and was quick to point out that there's still much more to come from his side this season.
He said: "We knew we were in for a difficult game, we've had a few hard games there in recent years.
"It's one of those we signpost a little bit, we know what they offer in terms of physicality, they've been on a pretty good run.
"To come away with another bonus point win is exactly what we wanted.
"That's four games in a row now that we're up at 40 points, that's obviously great.
"The exciting thing is that there's still so much more to come from our attack, we've still not even scratched the surface in terms of what I think we can achieve.
"We're still working on optimising the weapons we've got.
"I think we always felt pretty comfortable, we played the situation and controlled the game pretty well.
"Grove are a team that very much thrive on their set piece and on gaining territory, so it was really important that we controlled our discipline.
"In doing so we denied them a lot of opportunities, both defensively and offensively.
"I still think we can improve defensively, there's areas we'll look at for sure, but it was a pretty complete performance across the 80 minutes."
McAvoy was delighted with the performance of man of the match Jonny Lees but stressed the importance of the whole squad in what was his side's second win on the road this season.
"There were plenty of candidates for man of the match," he said.
"James Macaulay was excellent again, he very rarely has a bad game in a Blues shirt.
"Miles Albert was another standout, he's new to the Blues and he keeps getting better and better.
"Jonny brings real x-factor, raw power and physicality, that back row is really exciting."
At the start of the season, McAvoy set out two principal targets – promotion and developing his squad – and Blues recent form suggests his side are in contention to achieve both.
Blues have used 35 different players in seven games so far this season, highlighting the depth of their squad – one of those, Robbie Drysdale, celebrated his 200th cap having risen from colts right through to the first team and will be part of a contingent that is set to take time out to coach some of the junior teams next month.
McAvoy said: "Robbie's a real success story, he epitomises what the club's about.
"He'll be one of the lads we take down to coach the under-14s in November, we want to inspire the next generation, to say 'here's a pathway to 200 senior appearances.'
"I think we're right on track, we know how strong Marlborough are but we think we can go and beat anyone, I think we'll be in the mix."
Next up for McAvoy's side is the much anticipated visit of Swindon, who sit three places below Blues in eighth.
Visitors can look forward to live music and real ale and Blues will be hoping for a fifth consecutive bonus point win.
"Crowds have been building this season so we're hoping for lots of support," McAvoy said.
