30/11 U17’s March on in OBB Div1
November 30, 2008
Chinnor 3 v 29 Newbury - OBB U17’s League Div 1 (30-11-08)
Newbury Under 17s, flying high at the top of the Oxford, Berks & Bucks league after two matches, came face-to-face with a Chinnor outfit known to be tough opposition, having only lost to Maidenhead by 3 points and drawing with Oxford and Redingensians. Newbury came out of the blocks quickly, and a scintillating run by Darren Smith within the first minute nearly led to an opening score. Instead it gave Rhys Jenkins an early penalty kicking chance, which sailed just pass the posts.
However the Newbury pressure continued, and a Jenkins kick into the corner from a penalty given for a late tackle led to a Newbury 5-metre lineout. A crooked put-in gave Chinnor a scrum and the chance to clear, but Newbury’s initial drive gave Josh Love the chance to win one against the head, and Hobbs peeled off the back of the scrum to score wide out, 5-0 to Newbury.
The game entered a period of stalemate both sides giving away penalties and one such penalty in front of the posts gave Chinnor an easy kick, which brought the score back to 5-3. However on 25 minutes the Newbury pressure forced the Chinnor defence to give away a penalty, Jenkins found his kicking boots, and slotted a long penalty to restore the 5-point advantage. Chinnor changed tact and kicked with the wind winning the line out and forcing Newbury to concede a penalty, which the Chinnor fly half dragged just past the posts.
Right on the stroke of half time, there was some argy-bargy, out of keeping with the game as a whole, and the Chinnor hooker had to leave the field with a cut face. Chinnor lacking a front-row replacement meant the game went to uncontested scrums, which was bad news for Newbury as their set-scrum had been totally dominant.
Chinnor kicked off the second half and immediately knocked on from the resulting scrum Newbury made good ground and put the Chinnor defence under a sustained period of pressure. Chinnor knocked on 5 metres out from the try line, which gave Hobbs a chance to repeat his pick-and-go, he couldn’t quite do so, but a second knock-on gave Newbury a reprieve. Chinnor were penalized for not binding in the scrum, Bartlett took the penalty quickly and dived through the still retreating Chinnor players to score. Jenkins, now kicking like we have come to expect, converted for 15-3.
Newbury introduced Toby Thorne and Tom Clarke, and Thorne immediately made his presence felt with a series of fly-hacks up the wing, which took Newbury from their goal line back into the Chinnor half and winning the line out as the retreating Chinnor defence had to kick into touch to halt Newbury’s progress. Newbury were now dominant and forcing Chinnor to concede penalties, 20 minutes into the second half, Jenkins kicked a penalty into the corner. The 5-metre lineout was won cleanly, and the drive was textbook, with Rob Drysdale claiming the final touchdown. Jenkins duly converted for 22-3. Within a few minutes the Newbury pressure yielded another penalty and the move was repeated, this time Josh Love peeled off the back of the maul to score, the ever-reliable Jenkins converted yet again 29-3.
Newbury, with a try bonus-point win in the bag, introduced their remaining replacements. As noted every time this season, the replacements did not weaken the performance, such is the strength of this squad now and had a couple of passes gone to hand Newbury could have added a couple more scores to their points total.
Not a feast of running rugby – the rain and bitter wind put paid to that – but 4 “route one” tries, and a bonus point win that strengthens their table-topping position represented a job well done for Newbury.
Newbury: - Drysdale, Love (Sanders), Caunt (Moore); Dyer (Tarquini), Craigen; West, Hobbs, Spanswick (T.Clark); Bartlett (Thorne), Jenkins; Monger (D.Clarke), Digby, Brassey, Smith (Burns); Mcintyre
Thanks to Alistair Widdop for looking after the squad today and Paul Sanders for his match reporting skills
For all who need a rugby fix next weekend Newbury U17’s entertain Maidenhead in a Top of the Table Berkshire Derby on Sunday 7th Dec, KO 2pm.
Both sides are unbeaten in the league, Newbury head the league by 2 points virtue of the try bonus points gained
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