Blues promotion hopes dealt near-fatal blow with Tottonians defeat

Newbury Blues’ outside chances of promotion from the Regional 2 Tribute South Central league suffered a near-fatal blow on Saturday following a disappointing 40-19 defeat to rivals Tottonians.

With unbeaten Marlborough having wrapped up the league title last week, second spot was still up for grabs with Blues, who had won five of their six games in 2023, Tottonians, who were on a run of four wins in five, and Stow-on-the-Wold all in contention.

Blues, who beat their Hampshire opponents 41-17 at Monks Lane in September, made a disastrous start and were 17-0 down after 17 minutes as tries from Tottonians forwards Sam Cranton and Craig Durnin as well as two successful conversions and a penalty from Robert Searle fired the hosts into a commanding lead.

James McAvoy was witnessing his side's promotion hopes evaporate in front of his eyes but Blues battled back, reducing the deficit when Jamie Futcher and Toby Thorne touched down to bring the visitors back into the contest at 17-12.

Tottonians wrestled back some momentum on the stroke of half time when full-back Jamie Laing crossed to extend the hosts' lead to 22-12 but Blues struck back after the break through James Macaulay, who scored his side's third of the afternoon which captain Dan Thorne converted to make it 22-19.

The clash looked set for a nail-biting conclusion but 13 unanswered points in the 20 minutes that followed Macaulay’s try meant Tottonians moved into an unassailable lead.

Eight of those points came from the accurate boot of the metronomic Searle, kicking two penalties and a conversion after Laing touched down for his second of the game in the 50th minute.

Thereafter, Tottonians held firm and denied Blues a route back into the contest before a frustrated Dan Thorne was sent to the sin bin three minutes from time, freeing up space for the home side to add one more score when the fresh legs of replacement Ben Griffin compounded McAvoy’s misery and, barring a small miracle, condemned his side to another season at this level.

Tottonians, who also have a game in hand on their opponents, leapfrog Blues, who drop one place to fourth and will now need to take the maximum 15 points from their remaining three games, beginning with Saturday’s trip to Salisbury, and cross their fingers for some help elsewhere.