Sam's the man as debutant Palmer stars

Newbury Blues edged past Devizes 17-14, wrapping up a double over their Wiltshire rivals this season.

Both games have nevertheless been hard-fought contests but if Blues’ 39-24 win at Monks Lane was all about dominating possession of the ball, then Saturday’s contest was about holding onto it whenever possible in difficult conditions against a physical Devizes side.

For Blues the big question was perhaps whether to stick or twist – the swamp-like conditions and Devizes determination to dominate with their forwards lent itself to kicking for territory, but the gusty wind and angling slope suggested it was wise to maintain ball in hand.

As it was Blues survived a couple of early Devizes attempts to smash and drive their way to the try line while a succession of Dan Thorne kicks served to relieve pressure on the visitors.

Blues were rewarded for their resilience in the 18th minute when a successful Thorne penalty called the scorers into action for the first time and the visitors had the first try of the afternoon a little more than 10 minutes later as a strong five metre scrum freed Kris Ford and his surprisingly fast feet to cut through the home defence and score.

Thorne's subsequent conversion made it 10-0 at half time with debutant Charlie Lewis making the most of his first cap but, with Blues playing up the slope and into the wind in the second half, Devizes soon reduced the deficit to 10-7.

Head coach James McAvoy then set about a re-shuffle, handing a debut to Sam Palmer and moving Ali Magee from the wing into the forwards.

The changes, not without an element of risk, proved decisive and Blues soon extended their lead to 17-7 when good work from Freddie Beharrell and Thorne released Palmer, who covered the 20 metres to the whitewash in the blink of an eye to mark his debut with a try.

Devizes were awarded a penalty try at the death but it wasn't enough to close the gap to Blues, who move up to fourth in the Regional 2 Tribute South Central table.