29/3 Henley Heartbreak for U16s
March 29, 2009
Following their Berkshire League heroics last week, a much changed Newbury Stags U16 team travelled to arch rivals Henley for the annual Berkshire - Oxfordshire clash of the ‘Big Guns’. Unfortunately, for the third season in a row, Newbury went down by just two points in a pulsating encounter in which the lead changed hands 8 times. Cruelly for Newbury, they actually scored a try under the posts in the last minute that brought the score back to 27-29 which looked like it would give them a deserved share of the spoils. However, the Henley jinx that has seen Newbury throw away winning leads to Henley in the last 2 years struck again, and the conversion sailed agonisingly and narrowly wide of the posts to leave Henley with their familiar two point winning margin.
Newbury started the brighter and deservedly took a 3-0 lead from a Ben Pritchard penalty following a Henley infringement. Newbury went on to dominate the first half, but just couldn’t turn their territory and possession into points. Several overlaps were created but ignored and there were several occasions when Newbury took the ball into the Henley 22 only to get possession turned over just when it looked like they would score. Worse was to follow, when on 18 minutes and Newbury again attacking dangerously in the Henley half, a loose pass went to ground and was hacked on by the Henley winger who won the race for the touchdown completely against the run of play. This gave Henley a 5-3 half time lead but Newbury supporters were not unduly concerned as Newbury really had been the superior team in the first half.
Both teams came out pumped for the second half, but the 5-3 half time scoreline suggested another low scoring tense affair as the previous fixtures had resulted in 7-5 and 12-10 final scorelines. Nobody would therefore have predicted a 48 point second half try fest!
Newbury were the better starters again and applied immediate pressure to the home defence. They also seemed to be playing with a directness and purpose that had been lacking in the first half. After several phases of play, skipper Jack Moates crashed over from short range allowing Pritchard a good conversion to put Newbury back into a 10-5 lead. However, 3 minutes later, Henley reclaimed the lead following the breakdown of another promising Newbury attack. A Newbury hand knocked the ball forward on the half way line, but rather than cover back, most of the Newbury players committed the cardinal sin of stopping - expecting the whistle to blow. Meanwhile, Henley carried on and ran in unopposed under the Newbury posts for the second sucker punch try of the day which they converted to take a 12-10 lead. This was the second such try in two weeks and Newbury have got to learn to play to the whistle to avoid these costly reversals.
In fairness to Newbury, they didn’t let their heads drop and they came straight back at Henley. The forwards were scrapping for every bit of possession and flanker Nick Baboolal was all over the park making tackles, creating turnovers and getting Newbury on the front foot. From sustained Newbury pressure, Chris O’Halloran and Jacob Coplestone produced some lovely interplay that ended with Man of the Match O’Halloran scorching over for a fine try. Pritchard added the tricky conversion to give Newbury a 17-12 lead.
Henley aren’t Newbury’s biggest rivals for nothing and although their first two tries were fortuitous, there was nothing lucky about their third as their midfield created all sorts of confusion in the Newbury defence and their centre streaked home under the Newbury posts after a well worked move. The conversion was added and the hosts were back in the lead 19-17.
Surely that would knock the stuffing out of a tiring Newbury team? No such thing. They tore back into Henley with a passion and fight that did them proud. No one was working harder than Ben Pritchard and he got his just desserts with a fine try after screaming through the Henley defence to cross near the posts. The conversion was missed, but this still gave Newbury a 22-19 lead with only 8 minutes to play and surely they would hang on to revenge those two bitter defeats from the previous two seasons?
Not if Henley had their way! They are also a proud and well drilled side and that combined with some very poor Newbury tackling allowed them to score two tries in quick succession - one in either corner from their speedy wingers. Neither try was converted, but this still gave Henley a 29-22 lead and there were only 3 minutes left on the clock. Newbury look tired and drained and surely there was nothing left in the tank? Amazingly, the Newbury forwards found the energy for one more series of attacks and after several phases Newbury were awarded a penalty 30 metres out. At this point Moates took matters into his own hands and took a quick tap penalty to jink his way past 5 or 6 disbelieving Henley defenders to score his second try of the day under the posts and seemingly give Newbury salvation. And the rest is history. The kick was missed, the final whistle blew and Henley hung on for their third consecutive 2 point win over Newbury.
All who witnessed it were absolutely enthralled by the excitement and quality of the occasion. Even the Henley supporters (and some of their coaches!) conceded that they thought the draw would have been a fair result. Both sides played their part to the full and the match was also refereed very well. In fairness to Henley, they took their chances well and were as organised and aggressive as we have come to expect. For Newbury, the game was not really lost with that last kick but with the 3 or 4 excellent chances that they created but spurned in the first half. Newbury have got to be more clinical in their finishing, have got to protect the ball more effectively when in possession and have got to stop falling off one on one tackles.
On the positive side, the boys showed amazing character to keep coming back from behind and actually played some very nice rugby. It was just the finishing that let them down. The commitment and work ethic was excellent and Chris O’Halloran at Full Back had the latest in a series of high quality performances. There was still a lot in this performance to suggest that Newbury can have a very successful end to the season and there are still three tournaments to play for. Like today, several first team regulars will be missing in coming weeks but the squad players have stepped up to show that we can still be very competitive in the absence of those players. A great game that will stay in the memory for a very long time to come.
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