Blues targeting Pink Day win after Tottonians defeat
Newbury Blues head coach James McAvoy was disappointed with his side’s loss to Tottonians on Saturday.
Blues found themselves under pressure from the off, giving away a penalty as the visitors mauled their way over to score within two minutes, which they failed to convert.
The message from the sideline was about keeping depth and footwork going, and there were times when Blues showed good shape both in attack and defence.
However, on the 15 minute mark a couple of missed tackles let Tottonians in for their second unconverted try.
The restart was perfectly executed though, leaving Blues with a lineout on the visitor's ten metre line.
A Dan Thorne penalty kick reduced the deficit to seven points.
Jamie Futcher made a half-break before Tottonians were penalised for a high tackle. The successful penalty kick by Thorne made the score 6-10 and put Blues very much back in the game.
Blues could not quite convert their goal line pressure into points, as Tottonians hacked though and scored their third try to take the score to 6-17.
Blues then had what was probably their best period of the game, forcing a penalty kick to the corner with Callum Varrall touching down after a well executed line out maul and drive by the forwards.
The successful conversion made the half time score 11-17 to Tottonians.
Blues made a strong start to the second half and pressured the visitors into making a number of mistakes, but like the first half they couldn't quite get over the line as Tottonians cleared, scoring their fourth try to take the score to 11-22.
With the game going into the final ten minutes, Tottonians scored another four tries to take the final score to 11-46.
“It wasn’t a dissimilar story to Winchester,” said McAvoy.
“It felt a little bit flat again at the beginning.
“The physicality was good, but we were just a bit naive I’d say.
“Our rugby IQ is just a bit slow at times.
“There are some who really understand the game and watch it outside of us.
“They watch the Six Nations and Premiership and are aware of the game.
“But we’re a bit naive at times, we become our own enemies.
“Our error count gave them simple tries.”
Tottonians are third in the league, known over recent years for their physicality.
“Totts are starting to play a bit differently to be fair,” he said.
“They’re starting to move the ball a bit wider.
“You can turn up against the teams around us, but it’s not going to be easy against the top five.
“They rarely have off days.
“You have to expect a fight for eighty minutes. We just cannot do that.”
Newbury face North Dorset at home on Saturday, the club’s Pink Day, raising money for Newbury Cancer Care.
The visitors sit just one place above Newbury in eighth.
“Guildford have been creeping up behind us as well,” he said.
“We’re going to need two or three wins from our last three games.
“Having Pink Day this week is probably the best thing for that.
“Everyone wants to play Pink Day, but nobody wants to lose it.
“I have to make sure that the weight of expectation isn’t a negative.
“I need to get the messaging right. This is exciting, this starts now.”
