Brixham sail off with the points

Blues rumble away to second home defeat

Newbury Blues 14 Brixham 23

BLUES suffered another narrow defeat that sees them slip to a spot just one place above the South West Premier League relegation spots in advance of a week’s break.

Brixham were not the most ambitious side to appear at Monks Lane, but they played simple, rumbling rugby and the home side struggled to make the most of what possession it could gain.

The visitors went ahead after a dozen minutes when hooker Koree Britton was on the end of a straightforward drive with Tom Putt converting and adding a penalty to leave 10 points between the sides.

Blues rallied and Richard West charged down a clearance kick to touch down with Ryan Trevaskis converting, and although Putt struck another penalty at the start of the second period, it looked as if Blues had found a way to crack the visitors’ resistance when Alex Millar charged through and Dan Thorne set up Josh Bartlett for a try with Trevaskis’ extra points putting Blues ahead for the first time.

But it was not to last as Ben Hicks’ sin-binning was punished when Joe Lovell was driven over for Putt to convert, and the centre added another penalty that gave Brixham an advantage Blues could not erase.

They now have a week’s break before embarking on games with top pair Dings Crusdaders and Newton Abbot.

Newbury Blues: Trevaskis; Bartlett, D. Thorne, Love, Futcher; West, Pigott; Hicks, Drysdale, Macauley; Neal, Bastable; D. Stewart, Spanswick, Winfield. Subs: G. Stewart, Millar, Hackett.

Brixham: Goodman; Lowe, J-P Simonetti, Putt, A. Simonetti; Worthington, Nash; Skeet, Britton, Conner; Thomas Sheriff; Watson, Lovell, Riley. Subs: Armitage, Smith, Murphy.