McAvoy looking forward to Guildford clash after Blues lose to Farnham

Newbury Blues head coach James McAvoy believes his side showed progress in their 59-20 loss to Farnham on Saturday.

McAvoy played the full 80 minutes having started at full-back, and had a first hand view of the challenge posed to his side.

Blues were suffering from unavailability and injuries heading into this rearranged game, with Harry Johnson making his debut for the side and Kris Ford playing his first of the season.

Blues started slow and were 7-0 down within two minutes, although they rallied well, a Dan Thorne penalty making it 7-3 in the fifth minute.

Farnham took control for the remainder of the half, scoring regularly to lead 33-3 at half time.

The second half started badly for Blues too, with Farnham scoring within 5 mins of the restart and again on 50 mins to make it 45-3.

Blues kept trying though, and some good play on 55 minutes saw Dylan Stewart score a try, with Dan Thorne converting 45-10.

Blues were rewarded for their resilience, as their attacking play saw winger Jamie Futcher break through the Farnham tackles to score wide left for 52-15.

Farnham replied to make it 59-15, but Blues had the last score when Graham Stewart crashed over to ensure both father and son made the scoresheet.

“The positive thing was how we finished the game,” said McAvoy.

“When we addressed some issues at half time we came out in a more positive way.

“But there's still an issue around the first part of matches.

“There’s an issue we have with self confidence.

“The boys can think ‘this is going to be a long day’.

“But in reality you can still win when you concede early.

“Miles Albert was named man of the match by us and Farnham.

“His lineout takes must have been at ninety percent.

“So that was really positive.”

McAvoy’s presence in the starting lineup is demonstrative of how Blues have suffered with injuries of late.

“We had a lot of changes in the scrum, front and back row,” he said.

“We were very light weight in the back row yesterday.

“I played eighty, so that shows something in terms of the depth of the squad.

“But it was good to see that point of view.”

Blues have faced the division’s top two sides back to back in the last two weeks, suffering two heavy defeats.

Saturday poses a different test entirely, against second bottom side Guildford.

“Boys are trying,” he said.

“The gap is four points between us, so a five point victory would be absolutely huge.

“They will be thinking this is their way to escape relegation.

“That will probably galvanise them, so there’s probably some fire coming from them.

“But we feel we have a good model to beat them.

“As much as I’d like to start in front of the home crowd, I’ll get back to coaching this week.”