30/01 Team to face London Welsh
January 30, 2009
This weekend Newbury take on London Welsh kick off 2pm.
This is a great oppertunity to travel away and support The Blues in a must win game for both sides.
Admission is £15 adults and U16’s Free
For details see here London Welsh website
Team is
1. Rob Green
2. Joe Clarke
3. Tom Fiddler
4. Ien Ascroftleigh
5. Brad Mockford
6. Scott Witcombe
7. Sean Fox
8. James Phillips
9. Waylon Gasson
10. Ben Stevenson
11. Nick Scott
12. Matt Humpries
13. Marc Sweeney
14. Martin Nutt
15. Johnny Hylton
16. Harry Pendleton
17. Paul Finken
18. Jack Bentall
19. Ross Noonan
20. Adrian Griffiths
21. Charile Perry
22. Gareth Griffiths
25/1 U15s dominate Reading
January 29, 2009
Reading 0 – Newbury 32
Newbury U15s overwhelmed Reading despite gusty winds and wet, muddy conditions with an impressive all-round team performance and six unanswered tries.
The game began with a disorganised period when the over-exuberant visitors made all the play but failed to score. Newbury kicked off and started strongly, winning possession, recycling well and pushing into Reading’s 22 straight away. The first chance came in the second minute but, having moved the ball wide, was not finished off. Several more opportunities followed in a frantic first 10 minutes before the backs settled down and made proper use of the ample possession.
The second stage of the match saw Newbury dominate all the way through until 10 minutes from the end. The blues’ forwards produced some superb phase play, secure scrums and stole several Reading lineouts. It was great to see the boys achieve such continuity and cooperation – months of training played out confidently on the field! All must have the credit, but notable individual performances came from Jonno Stancombe, always in the fray and leading by example, Tom Simm for stealing 3 lineouts and his powerful presence in the loose, and Tom Soanes for excellent hooking and tenacity at the breakdown. This all put Reading on the back foot and provided good ball for the backs, who notched a fistful of tries in a good display of handling and running despite the wet conditions.
Newbury’s first two tries came from Alex Cima, one just wide of the posts and the other in the corner, and both thanks to good skills and well timed passing in the backs. The third, five minutes before half time, followed several organised phases of pick and drive by the forwards ending when Gavin Williams picked and forced his way over the line from two metres. Reading stepped up its kicking game in an attempt to gain ground but Newbury countered well. One such kick in open play, from half way to Newbury’s 22, was returned with interest when Jak Rossiter’s quick thinking saw him grab the ball and spin a quick throw in 20 metres in field. Seconds later, after a short run and a kick, Reading was taking a throw in on its own 22. Gusty wind and a wet ball contrived to keep conversions just wide of the posts and leave the score 0-15 at the break.
In the second half Newbury kept up their dominance, maintaining control up front and stifling Reading incursions whenever the home side won possession. Five minutes into the half Newbury pressed again inside the 22 and as the ball moved along the line Jak Rossiter ran a stiletto straight line from full back out wide, took a pop ball and cut through the defence to score 5 metres from touch. Jonny Courtney overcame the conditions with a strong high kick and calmly floated in a lovely conversion. With around 10 minutes to go, Newbury’s fifth try was absolute class, must go down as the best team try of the season and epitomises the style of rugby we are looking for. A break on half way by back row Ean Kershaw made ten metres and ended with him going to ground as support arrived. The ball was picked up and run forward by Jonno Stancombe, with Tom Simm on his shoulder. There then followed three phases of controlled rucking by Newbury, each picked and peeled with two in support, which took them inside Reading’s 22, fifteen metres in field on the left. Quick ball then went right from Cameron Mercer to Peter Allan (now at fly half) and down the line through Tom Nield, missing the dummy run by Jak Rossiter, to Jonny Courtney who powered forward towards Reading’s line with Alex Cima on his outside and two defenders remaining. A timely swerve drew in the Reading winger and, as he took the tackle, Jonny Courtney reached round the back of the defender and offloaded one handed to Alex Cima, who slid into the corner for his hat trick.
With the game won, final substitutions were made. But, far from demoralised, Reading mounted a strong fight back in the last 10 minutes of the game, attacking the rucks and throwing everything at Newbury, including more switches to the blind side at attacking scrums in Newbury’s 22 which were defended securely. To their credit, Newbury seemed determined not to let Reading take even a consolation score and their only real chance of points in the game, had they opted to take them, would have been an in-range penalty in front of the posts. To cap the performance, Newbury finished the scoring with a touch down from Peter Allan, thanks to his nice cut inside from 10 metres out. Final score 0-32.
Scorers: Tries: Alex Cima (3), Gavin Williams, Peter Allan, Jak Rossiter. Conversion: Jonny Courtney.
Newbury squad: G Williams, T Soanes, J Hitchens, J Newton, H Fisher, T Blake, J Miles, B Hicks, T Simm, E Kershaw, J Stancombe (Capt), C Mercer, J Leadley, P Allan, J Courtney, A Huntsman, A Cima, J Rossiter, J Hibberd, T Nield, R West.
Squad and coaches after the match
Protect the ball !
Tackle....ball gone
28/01 Help! (Coaches and Referees)
January 28, 2009
Our community coaches are looking for coaching a refereeing help for the following schools events. If you are interested please email Matt mattstyles@live.com or Emma elb.somerset@hotmail.co.uk
Mon 2nd Feb, Yr 3/4 Primary tag festival @NRFC 1-4pm
Mon 9th Feb, Yr 5/6 Primary tag festival @NRFC 1-4pm
Thurs 12th Feb, U15/U18 Girls Contact @NRFC 3.30-6pm
Tues 24 Feb U12 girls tag+ @ NRFC 3.30-6pm
Wed 4th March Girls County contact final
27/01 Peter wins £185 in the chairmans draw!
January 27, 2009
Congratulations to Peter Osborn from the Mini’s U8’s Team who wins a total of £185.75 from his stake of £15 in the January draw! This included 2 tickets to the England v Italy 6 nations match.
If you want to be in the draw for next month read all about it here and download a entrance form here.
26/01 U17’s Undefeated & OBB Champions
January 26, 2009
Newbury U17’s 46 - 0 Chinnor U17’s (OBB Div 1 League 25/01/2009)
Against a huge and very physical Chinnor side, Newbury made a steady start and it was 12 minutes before George Rossiter opened the scoring with a penalty. Newbury lost Ben West early with a bloody nose, but replacement Will Murray came on to play a magnificent game. Then on 23 minutes Rossiter kicked a penalty into the corner. Newbury took a perfect lineout catch and a copybook 8-man drive took Newbury to the line. As Chinnor collapsed the maul, Josh Love slid off the side with the ball to touchdown. Rossiter converted well for 10-0.
Chinnor responded by upping their physical effort and indeed should have scored on the stroke of half time with a penalty.
Newbury opened the second half with Scott Wilson on for Toby Thorne, and Jamie Mcintyre for the injured Jack Brassey. 3 minutes in and the backs managed to put together some inventive running for the first time, and a try could have resulted. Tom Sanders replaced a second casualty, Josh Love, and Rossiter stretched the lead with a simple penalty.
15 minutes into the second half, Michael Hobbs picked up from the back of a 5-metre scrum and drove to the corner. Unable to touch down, he recycled to Sanders who was also stopped short but still on his feet. The Newbury forwards joined the drive and with their help Sanders spun round on his right shoulder to crash over and score. Rossiter was unable to convert this one from the touchline – 18-0. Maher and Gibson now joined the action, and Ben West was fit enough to return. Finally Jamie Futcher joined the action.
Three minutes later James Monger was robbed of a try as the referee’s attention was drawn instead to a midfield fracas, which led to a yellow card for each side. Unperturbed, Newbury drove relentlessly back at Chinnor. Sanders took a scrum against the head, Wilson popped it out to Rossiter and he tunnelled through the most direct route to the line for 23-0. Unsurprisingly, he converted his own try (25-0).
On 25 minutes the Chinnor number 11 was yellow carded for a blatant punch. This didn’t help the cause for the visitors who were by now visibly wilting against the superior skills and fitness of the Newbury team. Just after that Hobbs volleyed the ball wildly from a broken situation in midfield. The ball sat up at the touchline and Ben West plucked it out of the air outrageously and sprinted forward. He popped the ball infield to Jamie Futcher who sprinted away for a fine touchdown under the posts. Rossiter as ever converted for 32-0.
5 minutes later James Monger launched a great diagonal run across the pitch. He offloaded in style to Remi Digby, who carved through the remaining defence to score. Rossiter, reliable as ever, notched the conversion (39-0).
At the close, Jamie Mcintyre caught an attempted clearance, carved a great run through the Chinnor players, and offloaded to Scott Wilson. Wilson looked almost surprised as the entire field opened up ahead of him, but he kept his cool and sprinted 30 metres, all the time assessing his support. As he was stopped he offloaded to Matt Maher (whose second half contribution was quite outstanding). Maher was stopped 8 metres short but offloaded to the supporting Tom Sanders. Sanders still had lots to do as he handed-off the approaching defender and powered over the line. He then ran behind the posts and swan-dived to score in celebration of a magnificent team performance. Rossiter (need I say) converted for 46-0.
This was a magnificent Newbury performance against a Chinnor team who were physically very strong and certainly no pushover. But Newbury ground them down up front for fifty minutes in a contest they never looked like losing, then cut loose as their opponents flagged to score 5 tries in the last 20 minutes.
Newbury: Guttridge, Love(Sanders), Caunt(Gibson); Dyer, Sherratt; West(Murray), Hobbs, Spanswick(Maher); Thorne(Wilson), Rossiter; Monger, Digby, Lawrence, Burns(Futcher); Brassey(Mcintyre)
Thanks to Nigel Gibson who kindly took charge of the match at short notice, as Berks were unable to supply a ref, well done
As Redingensians beat Maidenhead 10-3, Newbury RFC U17’s are the OBB U17’s CHAMPIONS Well done all
U17’s Reporter Paul (inky fingers) Sanders
26/1: Newbury U16s 57 v 0 Reading U16s
January 26, 2009
An example of the high standards that Newbury U16s set for themselves is the fact that they were very disappointed with their performance in this resounding victory over Reading in their second Berkshire League fixture of the season. Despite scoring 9 unanswered tries, the home team knew that they hadn’t really put a great performance together in a disjointed affair. It took Newbury almost 20 minutes to open up the Reading defence and many of the Newbury tries were down to individual prowess rather than concerted teamwork.
Ain't No Stopping Me Now - Jacob at Full Tilt
Newbury’s problems stemmed from their inability to control the breakdown where they were frequently outnumbered and bettered in the opening exchanges. This problem prevented Newbury from going through the phases and imposing their off-loading game that can be so dangerous when it clicks in. Their inability to control the game meant that Newbury players were panicking and trying to force the offload when it wasn’t on. Of course, this pressure was also down to the fact that Reading were determined not to just make up the numbers and were contesting the breakdown fiercely and scrapping for every ball.
Newbury nerves were calmed after 20 minutes when Eddie Allfrey crossed following a sweet blind side move down the right. Winger Romaine Segre eased the tension further when he skinned the Reading defence with a blistering run on 28 minutes to score a beauty. Soon after, Jack Moates jinked past 5 Reading defenders on 30 minutes to cross under the posts and left wing Alex Makin scored on the cusp of half time following a scorching run down the left wing. 3 Ben Pritchard conversions saw Newbury go in 26 points to the good at half time.
Chris Abbott Counter Attacking at Pace
Newbury regrouped at half time and delivered a more disciplined performance in the second half. Skipper Moates went in for his second try of the day following up his own chip through. Segre then went in for his second score before tries from Pritchard, Arland Craik and James Macaulay closed the match out for Newbury. One more conversion for Pritchard and two from Sam Pincott resulted in a final score of 57-0 to Newbury. Craik’s try was an absolute scorcher where he revealed his sprinting prowess in its full glory. He collected the ball on the Reading 10 metre line and blazed his way through the Reading defence without a finger being laid on him. It was a fine example of what the Newbury backs can do if they’re provided with enough quality ball and space in which to operate.
Newbury Attack in Numbers
Newbury maintained their 4 year unbeaten Berkshire League record but know they will have to play much better than this if they are to beat Reading Abbey and Windsor who look like much stronger outfits this season. The forwards have to show more control, aggression and composure and need to dominate the set piece. Having said that, things can’t be too bad if you can beat a competitive Reading side 57-0 and still be disappointed with your performance. There were several stand out individual Newbury performances, none better than ‘Man of the Match’ full back Chris Abbott who was rock solid under the high ball and who counter attacked with great effect. James Smith and Kieran Jordan also put in outstanding contributions to steer Newbury home to an eventual comfortable victory.
26/01 B’s v Hungerford new date
January 26, 2009
The rearranged plate game against Hungerford will be played on Saturday 7th February 2009, K.O 14.30hrs
24/01 Esher 49 Newbury Blues 18
January 24, 2009
Full time.
23/01 Team to face Esher
January 23, 2009
This weekend Newbury take on Esher kick off 3pm.
This is a great oppertunity to travel away and support The Blues in a must win game for both sides.
Admission is £15 adults and U18’s £2
For details see here Esher Website
Team is
1. Nathan Catt
2. Paul Fincken (c)
3. Tom Fiddler
4. Ien Ascroftleigh
5. David Attwood
6. Scott Witcombe
7. Sean Fox
8. James Phillips
9. Waylon Gasson
10. Gareth Griffiths
11. Rhys Crane
12. Matt Humpries
13. Marc Sweeney
14. Nick Scott
15. Johnny Hylton
16. Rob Green
17. Joe Clarke
18. Brad Mockford
19. Ross Noonan
20. Ben Stevenson
21. Charile Perry
22. Martin Nutt
22/01 Development XV 15 v Royal Navy 14
January 22, 2009
Newbury fielded a young side in, what has become an annual fixture, against the Royal Navy on Wednesday 21st Feb. Conditions were difficult with wind & rain but both sides showed that they were prepared to play attractive rugby.
Newbury began the brightest, into a very stiff wind, with the forwards winning regular amounts of ball for their backs to use. Tom Kessell playing at fly-half made some telling breaks only for the final pass to go wayward.
Slowly the Navy got into the game & were able to make their bigger physical size tell for periods of play. However, Newbury defended well & their line held firm. The Navy did eventually breach the Newbury line & converted to take a 7-0 lead. It looked as if this would be the only score of the half until a quickly taken penalty allowed the Navy to go over close to the posts for a converted try & they went in 14-0.
Newbury had shown, in the first half that they were capable of competing with a bigger Navy side & in the second half they set about making that count. With the wind at their backs they were able to spend long periods in the Navy half. Several players went close before the Navy gave away a penalty in front of the posts for Charlie Perry to convert & give Newbury their first points. Further pressure allowed Will Clarke to kick across field for the chasing Chris Ridgers to dive on to open Newbury’s try account. Perry was unable to convert so the score remained 14-8 to the Navy.
Newbury were determined to get the win that they felt they deserved & following some good off loads were able to send Tom Kessell in under the post for Perry to convert. The Navy did try to make one last effort to snatch the game from Newbury but the defence held firm & a young team where able to celebrate a well deserved victory 15-14.
The average age of this team was in the region of 21/22 & it shows what talent Newbury has coming through. The challenge we now have is keeping these players together, producing a rugby environment where they can show us this talent & demonstrating to other young players that there is a passage way for them to follow to the 1st XV.