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Dan's delight at Blues revival




It’s not often a side loses their first three games of the season but are back in the promotion mix come the end of October, but that’s exactly what’s happened to Newbury Blues.

Blues have been on a run of four bonus points wins in succession and captain Dan Thorne has been at the heart of their improvement, scoring two tries and kicking 51 points.

And the experienced fly half is delighted with his side’s form and is confident Blues can kick on and be in contention come the end of the campaign.

Dan Thorne has been in fine form this season
Dan Thorne has been in fine form this season

He said: “The first three games were all very different, but the crux is that we were on the wrong side of the result each time.

“We were competitive in the first two games and then came up against a very tough Marlborough side, we were weakened by injuries and were without seven front rows in our matchday squad.

“It can be tough when you have a run of defeats, but there was a lot of good rugby in those first few games.

“We knew we had a lot of things to improve on but we also wanted to highlight things we’d done well.

“I always felt we were a much better side than our record suggested, that first win against Tottonians was great and gave us a massive confidence boost.”

Captain Dan Thorne has over 200 Blues caps to his name
Captain Dan Thorne has over 200 Blues caps to his name

Blues have used 35 different players in the first seven rounds this season as a number of experienced players suffered injuries in the campaign’s first few weeks which has allowed the likes of Miles Albert, Michael Duppa-Miller, Ali MaGee and Freddie Beharrell to step up and impress.

“It’s great that so many lads have contributed already, even if some of those appearances came earlier than expected because of injuries,” Thorne said.

“The boys have integrated into the club really well, a lot of them having come through the junior ranks, it’s been great to see these young lads excel when they’ve had the opportunity.”

Blues welcome eighth placed Swindon to Monks Lane and Thorne is anticipating another “cracker” in front of what promises to be a bumper crowd – let’s hope so.



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