Embattled Blues push Stow to final whistle
James McAvoy’s depleted Newbury Blues suffered a heartbreaking second successive Regional 2 Tribute South Central defeat at home to Stow-on-the-Wold.
Tries from Jonny Lees, Joel Cribbs and Miles Albert saw Blues race into a 15-0 lead before Stow scrum half James Gibbs hit back with a smart finish to reduce the arrears to 15-7 in a hectic opening 20 minutes.
Two penalties from captain Dan Thorne meant the Blues went in at half time with a 21-7 lead but two Stow tries within 10 minutes of the restart brought the score to 21-17.
Newbury were then reduced to 13 men when Chris Ford saw red after a dangerous tackle and Jonathan Lees, Joel Cripps, Tom Cole and Kyle Doel all suffered injuries.
Thorne kicked another three points to move the score to 24-17 but a fourth Stow score soon reduced the deficit to 24-22.
A resilient Blues refused to give in but the extra men eventually told and Gibbs went over in the final minute to take the score to 24-29 and send league leaders Stow back to Gloucestershire with a hard-earned five points.
“We were disappointed to lose last week, we were determined to make a fast start and we did that,” McAvoy said.
“Stow kept themselves in the game, perhaps we could’ve done more to not let them back into it.
“We were looking good, we were breaking them down in attack and we were aggressive in defence.
“We wish all the injured boys the absolute best in their recoveries, these things happen, to have four in one game is really unfortunate.
“The boys showed brilliant resilience, togetherness and spirit to defend 13 against 15, to lose it so late on was a bitter pill to swallow but we'll pick ourselves up.”
Blues will be looking to bounce back this weekend ahead of a difficult trip to unbeaten league leaders Marlborough.
Elsewhere, Newbury Stags Counties 2 Tribute BBO South fixture at Beaconsfield marked a difficult day for the national rugby community, both on and off the pitch, writes Max Carter Keall.
In light of the death of the Queen, the RFU’s decision to continue the weekend’s fixtures saw a minute’s silence observed before every match while players wore black armbands, a touching example of community spirit.
Moreover, Beaconsfield’s agreement to play the game with only 13 players on each side, as the RFU’s Game On regulations allow, is another example of rugby drawing together in a difficult time.
However, if there was reflection before the game started, there was reflection of a different sort at the end as the Stags fell to a 63-24 defeat away at Oak Lodge Meadow.
The lack of a full strength side meant that Beaconsfield’s pacey wide players dominated, scoring two tries within the first 20 minutes and racing into a 14 point lead.
Newbury were then made to pay for missed chances as Beaconsfield’s pace proved too much for the Stags, scoring two more tries to lead 28-0.
This galvanised the Newbury side, however, and man of the match Michael Duppa Millar got the visitors off the mark after successful approach play.
With Jordan Ruddock’s conversion, the game was poised at 28-7 and the Stags seemed to rally as Jamal Watson powered over the left hand side after a quality assist from George Robinson Slater.
Unfortunately, Beaconsfield’s attacking threat saw them score two more tries as the home team went into half time with a 42-12 lead.
A further injury in the second half to Adam Henderson reduced the Stags to 12 men, and despite good work from captain Ben Davies and William Osborne to steal a losing bonus point, a late Beaconsfield flurry saw the game finish 63-24 to the home side.
The Stags will be looking to improve with the visit of Henley Vikings in round three, and any support down at Monks Lane would make a real difference.
