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Blues counted out early on




Defeat number 20 leaves Newbury closer to the relegation trapdoor for a third successive season

Worthing 51 Newbury Blues 5

BLUES were yet again left reeling before the shrill of the opening whistle had faded as they conceded a try after only 28 seconds on Saturday.

It was the latest in a long line of painful openings and once more they were left chasing a game that was soon out of reach.

Mid-table Worthing were 27-0 up in less than even time and it was to the basement boys' credit that they managed to limit the damage afterwards.

Former Blues Richard Briggs, Greg Sullivan and Raynn Bruce were all in the Worthing line-up, while Blues were again forced into massed changes and to field a short-handed bench devoid of attacking options.

Worthing had all of those early on after Briggs had walked in that opening score, and Sullivan had one disallowed before skipper James Arthur, Briggs again and Sullivan made it 27-0 with the help of two Matt McLean conversions and a penalty.

Tom Fidler's brilliant solo try lifted Blues' spirits when he barged his way through from 35 yards out, and they limited Worthing to one more first half score, touched down by Jamie Redmayne.

Charlie McGowan's sixth try for the home side, within three minutes of the re-start, was merely another remainder of how slowly Blues get started, but after that they showed far more defensive resolve, with the worsening conditions assisting the levelling process.

Flanker Sam Hewick was sent away by scrum half Mike Marsh after 56 minutes, but Worthing had to wait until four minutes from time to reach their half-century when substitute Shane Costigan combined well with Sullivan to score.

Blues' own attacking moments were extremely limited with touch kicking again a major failing, and new boy Myles Roberts Bailey saw only one chance to break from an interception, but he had no chance of ploughing through 80 yards of mud in search of a second consolation as Blues were left even deeper in the relegation mire.



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