Blues all set ahead of Shipston opener

James McAvoy’s Newbury Blues side beat Basingstoke 54-21 to win the Snows Cup, sponsored by Kia, as part of the Blues’ Scrum in the Sun event on Saturday.

The match was the last in the Blues’ pre-season schedule ahead of their Regional 2 Tribute South Central season opener at Shipston-on-Stour on September 3.

“It was our big Scrum in the Sun event, we had a CrossFit competition, the women had an intra-club game and we played Basingstoke,” McAvoy said.

“It was really positive for us, we had 36 boys play, we’ve got a really strong squad, it was really pleasing.

"It's always difficult making so many changes, it's hard for the boys getting used to different partnerships but I think we've integrated really well.

"The fact that 36 players could all play to the same model was really impressive."

Last week, Newbury’s scheduled fixture against Wimbledon was cancelled after the heatwave made pitches up and down the country unplayable.

McAvoy said: “That was a real shame, we were excited to be down on Pitch 1 at Monks Lane with Wimbledon coming here, a team in the league above us, that’s where we want to be.

“We tried to manage contact in the week and then the RFU put out a survey about pitch conditions, it had to be cancelled.

“We’ve had such good numbers at training so we’ve been able to replicate a lot of game situations on Thursday nights, so we haven’t missed out too much, that’s a credit to the lads.

Now, McAvoy’s attention turns to the season opener at Shipton’s Mayo Road home in less than two weeks.

“We had planned an intra-club competitive fixture, but I made the call to take a step back and remove that from our schedule,” he said.

“I think I’ve seen enough from Saturday’s game, we’re going to do some team bonding and then we’ll celebrate the end of pre-season.

“We’re going to give out a couple of awards, because we’ve been working on the theme of a 22 round fight, one of them is called the Mayweather Award.

“We started on July 3, it’s been a great couple of months, it's important we celebrate the progress we've made.

"Everyone's going to have Saturday off, give people time to rest, and then we're into a matchday week.

"Tuesday sessions will be a little bit more skill focused and the Thursdays will be more player-led, short and snappy, then we'll be ready to go on Saturday.

"The first team are looking forward to our longest away trip of the season and the second team have a home game against Aldermaston."