Newbury U 19s vs. Witney U19s (Friendly, 01/11/2009)
On a very windy but thankfully dry Sunday afternoon Newbury U19 Colts played a friendly match against Witney U19 Colts at Newbury RFC.
Newbury with several players unavailable due to injury, unavailability and County duties managed to field a squad of 17 players; Witney had the same problems and came with a squad of 16 players.
Witney kicked off with the wind behind them, and immediately forced Newbury to knock on, winning the scrum they attack Newbury’s defence but give away a penalty allowing Newbury to kick to safety. This was to be the way for the first 20 minutes Newbury holding out in defence and when they got their hands on the ball some good running rugby taking them out of defence and into Witneys half, only to cough up possession allowing Witney to kick long with the wind forcing Newbury back into their own 22. Witney managed to put several phases of play together in Newbury’s half, which eventually led to them winning a penalty, which they kicked. 0-3 to Witney. Newbury mounted several attacks with good runs from C. Lawrence,
J. Guttridge, G. Rossiter and forward turned winger T. Martin but are unable to get on the score sheet. Newbury’s defence kept organised and managed to keep out Witney who using the wind advantage kept Newbury in their own half for most of the next 10 minutes. With only a few minutes of the first half remaining Newbury put several phases of attacking play together and were rewarded as J. Bartlett broke through Witneys defence to score wide out on the left, 5-3 to Newbury and the half time whistle.
Coaches N. Collins and G. Herriots half time talks seem to work wonders as within a few minutes of the start of the second half Newbury win a Witney scrum against the head and gain good ground through charging runs from O. Spanswick and G. Rossiter before the ball is recycled by the forwards allowing J. Walsh to crash through the last line of defence 10-3 to Newbury. With the strong wind behind them Newbury now have the upper hand, winning a penalty just in their own half, G. Rossiter kicked to touch and from the lineout the forwards gather the ball and rumble the 10 yds to the try line allowing O. Spanswick to score 15-3 to Newbury. Some good breaks from wingers T. Martin and D. Smith keep Newbury on the attack and only last man tackles prevent them from scoring. Witney win a penalty but fail to get the kick into touch. Newbury run the ball passing it through the backs in a neat flowing move across the pitch releasing T. Martin to score wide out on the left 20-3 to Newbury. Straight from the kick off Newbury set off on another attack, J. Futcher kicking over the defence and managing to win the race with the defender gathers the ball but is tackled 5m short of the try line, the Newbury forwards are quickly there keeping possession and popping the ball out to J. Guttridge to score 25-3 to Newbury. Witney keep trying but are just unable to make the final yards to add to their points total either giving away a penalty or losing possession which Newbury with the aid of the wind kick back well into the Witney half. Newbury manage to win another scrum against the head on Witneys 22 which allows scrum half J. Bartlett to scamper over 30-3 to Newbury. Both sides have chances to score but infringe allowing the defences to clear their lines, a good run from B. Haskins takes play well into Witneys half but Newbury give away a penalty allowing Witney to clear the danger. Newbury attack again for the final few minutes but are unable to score, leaving the final score 30-3 to Newbury in a hard fought match, credit must go to both teams for producing an entertaining game in very windy conditions.
A good squad performance by all the boys on the pitch, thanks also go to the great support given by family and non-playing boys
Newbury Squad
B. Haskins, T. Sanders, J. Caunt, T. Dyer, P. Sherman, (D. Craigen), M. Maher,
J. Walsh, J. Guttridge, (O. Spanswick), J. Bartlett, G. Rossiter, T. Martin T. Clark,
C. Lawrence, D. Smith, J. Futcher.
We now have a busy 4 weeks with 3 OBB League games and a National Colts Cup game
Next game Sunday 8th Nov against Amersham and Chiltern in the OBB League,
Div 1 at Amersham and Chiltern RFC
Newbury RFC - Unofficial forums
