29/10 U15s Beat Oxfordshire visitors Chinnor
October 29, 2008
U15s Beat Oxfordshire Visitors Chinnor
Newbury U15 22 – Chinnor 12
Newbury U15s hosted Oxfordshire visitors Chinnor on Sunday in what has become a valued annual fixture.
The light rain made handling tricky early on but didn’t dampen either team’s energy. Both sides competed closely up front with good set piece play from both. Newbury had the edge in the loose and made the breakthrough after 6 minutes. Alex Huntsman made a good run just inside Chinnor’s 22 but was unable to offload in the tackle. In close support as the ball spilled, Jonny Courtney kicked forward, chased ahead of the scrambling defence and dived to ground the ball just before it rolled into touch in goal.
As usual, Newbury were buoyed up by their opening score and kept the upper hand. The Newbury forwards showed some excellent pick-and-drive phase play and always seemed to have a team mate in support - who frequently turned out to be Jonno Stancombe or Tom Simm! Against this trend, Chinnor’s useful backs managed to break through and were the next to score, briefly subduing Newbury.
But at 25 minutes, Newbury got their noses in front once more after a scrum inside Chinnor’s 22. As the ball came out, Jonny Courtney ran a lovely straight line, found a gap in midfield and stepped past the full back for his second try. Jonny Courtney converted.
Although Newbury thought they were well in control, Chinnor certainly didn’t believe it and piled on the pressure for the remaining 5 minutes of the first half. The last three were played well inside Newbury’s red zone but its defence held and the half ended two tries to one at 12 – 5.
The second half was equally closely fought although with more expansive play from both sets of backs. Newbury camped in Chinnor’s half for the first 10 minutes but despite some useful runs didn’t seem able to break the defence. Then Newbury attacked to the right and moved the ball quickly down the line to Alex Cima on the wing, who ran in strongly from 20 metres.
Again Chinnor’s determination was evident, perhaps helped by some complacency on Newbury’s part, and they struck back, scoring with a well worked team try 6 minutes from full time.
The final period was a battle and increasingly fractious in the loose, with Chinnor tempers becoming frayed. Newbury’s final score came right at the whistle, from a scrum just outside Chinnor’s 22. Joe Leadley distributed and Jonny Courtney stabbed a kick over the defence for Alex Huntsman to chase and ground scrappily just inside the dead ball line.
Overall this was a tough match between two evenly matched sides. Ball distribution in the backs improved from the previous week and although they still did not show their usual quality, the backs managed to make more from their chances than did Chinnor. A final score line without the last try would have been a fairer view of the game but it ended 4 tries to 2 at 22 – 12 to the home side Newbury.
Newbury Tries: Jonny Courtney (2), Alex Cima, Alex Huntsman.
Conversion: Jonny Courtney.
Newbury squad: T MaCaulay, T Soanes, J Newton, B Hicks, H Fisher, T Simm, E Kershaw, J Stancombe (Capt), T Lauder (C Mercer), J Leadley, J Courtney, A Huntsman, G Thomas, R West (A Cima), J Hibberd
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