‘Self-belief’ vital as Newbury Blues cruise to huge win over Chobham

Newbury Blues stormed to their highest points total of the season on a murky afternoon at home to Chobham on Saturday.

Head coach James McAvoy declared that “belief” was the key, as ninth placed Newbury smashed their seventh placed visitors.

Despite their eventual dominance, Blues nearly went behind early on as a Chobham penalty drifted past the posts.

The Newbury defence held out well, surviving the opening period and going on the attack.

Harry Johnson got the first try with 19 minutes gone, with Dan Thorne converting for 7-0.

Will Osborne got the second try of the match just minutes later, scoring under the posts before Thorne made it 14-0.

By the 26th minute it was 19-0, Tom Cole running in from thirty metres out to score.

Osborne grabbed his second just after the half-hour mark, as Newbury began to totally overwhelm their opponents.

Harry Waye-Branch made it 31-0 just after half time, scoring wide right before bagging his second just five minutes later.

Chobham rallied to make it 36-7, but George Robinson-Slater powered through to make it 43-7 and end the contest.

Blues rose to ninth, fourth from bottom and clear of any danger.

“The players needed an opportunity for feedback,” said McAvoy, having altered the side’s training schedule in midweek to include a team meeting.

“It’s interesting that you forgo a training session and come out with a result like that.

“The freedom the players were able to play with… that positivity from the meeting had a direct impact on the intensity.

“We’re all willing to have really honest conversations with each other.”

Blues have now won two in a row, having lost their first two games of 2025 to league leading opposition.

“We’ve been through some adversity,” he said.

“Self belief can waver, but when we’ve got it it’s fantastic.

“We’ve asked the boys to connect and communicate defensively.

“Our skillset as a club is around ball movement.

“Chobham are a better team in narrow spaces, and players made some really good decisions.”

Blues travel to third placed Winchester on Saturday, looking to make it three in a row.

“One of our big things is consistency,” he said.

“As a teacher and in coaching, we’ll repeat the same themes all year and repeat messages.

“Now they’re starting to settle, the boys are starting to action them.

“No team will ever have a linear progression, it’s going to plateau, dip up and down.

“But we’ve set our standard.

“I’ll be looking for a consistent response from them now.

“If you match Winchester physically, you can definitely cause them problems.”