Blues suffer narrow defeat

Newbury Blues were defeated by Oxford Harlequins at Monks Lane today (Saturday)

NEWBURY Blues succumbed to defeat number 14 for the season today (Saturday), going down narrowly at home to Oxford Harlequins.

Blues had threatened to win for the first time this season having led 10-3 shortly after half time, but two second half tries from Harlequins saw the visitors score their third successive away win with a 15-10 victory at Monks Lane.

Both sides struggled with their handling in the bitterly cold conditions, but the visitors settled quickest, with an early penalty from Tom Jelly giving them a 3-0 lead.

Blues were then forced to defend for the majority of the first half, although Harlequins failed to add to their lead, with Jelly missing a penalty five minutes before the break.

And that miss was punished just three minutes later as Blues' Matt Maher went over to give Newbury a 5-3 half time lead.

Blues then started the second half strongly with Tom Martin capitalising on a defensive error to score a try in the 44th minute to give Newbury a 10-3 lead.

However, the lead did not last long as the visitors' Matt Edney went over in the corner to reduce the arrears just six minutes later, before Tom Jelly added the conversion to draw the scores level at 10-10.

Harlequins then completed the comeback just after the hour mark as Sione Viao'mounga scored a try to give the visitors a 15-10 lead.

And despite Blues' best efforts, the scores remained the same, giving Blues their 14th defeat of the season and leaving them rooted to the bottom of the Division Three South and West table.