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48 NEWBURY Blues ran in a late flurry of tries to salvage a try scoring bonus point against the Cornish Pirates on Saturday but it was not enough to save them from another defeat. The Blues touched down three times in the last 10 minutes to claw back some respectability and earn a vital point from a game where too many missed tackles and mistakes cost them dear. Blues skipper Tim Walsh got Newbury off to a solid start with a fine jinking run upfield.
Although he was held up short of the line, he rapidly regained his composure and in the next phase found the space to slot an early drop goal. Story continues ADVERTISEMENT The Pirates response was immediate and came in the shape of hooker Nathan Kemp who blasted over the line for a try which was converted by fly-half Gareth Steenson. Newbury then enjoyed a good spell of possession, with exPirates hero Jonny Hylton providing a threat on the wing,and Walsh eventually slotted a penalty to narrow the gap to 7-6.
After this the Cornish side began to gain the upper hand and Richard Bolt found space and ran through to score. Steenson converted and also added two penalties before the break to leave Newbury trailing 20-6 at half-time. Pirates stretched further away after the break when some slick play ended with Chris Cracknell touching down, Steenson adding the extras for a 27-6 lead.
However, the Blues again responded well and on-loan hooker Paul Fincken finished a solid driving maul to score on his debut. Walsh missed the conversion and Cornish then quickly killed the game off with three swift tries. One from replacement Eniloa Gesende, a brace from Paul Devlin and three conversions from Steenson put Newbury out of sight at 48-11.
With the game out of reach, Newbury showed good character to finish the stronger side and run in 17 points. Substitute Matt Styles twice went over the line and in the dying minutes Hylton intercepted a stray pass to glide in from the halfway line. Walsh converted one of the three tries and although Newbury finished the game well-beaten they at least had a bonus point to show for their efforts.
However, the point was not enough to console coach Chris Dossett who declared the match "our most disappointing performance so far this season." He added: "If you are not going to make tackles you are going to be on the back foot all day. You can't miss tackles,even though we scored 28 points, we probably gave them 28 points today.
" Chris Ashwin's last ditch defence was praised by Dossett who suggested that "if everyone tackled like he did the game would have been different." This week Newbury travel to eighth-placed Moseley but with the worst defensive record in National Division One, the Blues will need a massive defensive improvement if they want to get anything from the game. Newbury Blues: Ashwin; Hylton, Nutt, Perkins, Henderson; Walsh, Smaje; Irish, Fincken, Thompson; Hayter, Radbourne; Morgan, Abbott, Brown.
Subs: Campbell, Faulkner, Ascroft-Leigh, Styles, Rainbow, Turner, Simpson-Daniel. *Thatcham were knocked off top spot in Berks, Bucks Oxon Division One (South) as they went down 19-6 to Tadley 2nds. After three straight victories, Thatcham's unbeaten run was brought to an abrupt end as their depleted side came off second best against a powerful Tadley pack.
Thatcham were missing three regular scrum halves and several other key players and their absence proved critical as Tadley took control of the game in the second half after an keen-ly-contested opening period. Depleted Thatcham were unlucky to trail 7-6 at the break as they twice came up just short of the Tadley line. Nick Rance was just unable to ground the ball under the Tadley posts early on and Pete Jennings was then bundled into touch inches short of the line as Thatcham had to be content with two Charlie Cox penalties in the opening period.
Tadley touched down for a converted try to lead at the break but they took charge in the second half to run in 12 unanswered points. Thatcham's Damian Hudson was forced out of the game with a nasty head injury that required several stitches and Tadley's pack took control. Thatcham's error count rose in a scrappy second half display and they ended up well-beaten as the home side ran in two further converted tries.
One positive note for Thatcham was the tireless dis-play of flanker Ben Dixon which earned him the man of the match award. Thatcham: Cameron, Abery, Hawkins, Broughton, Langdon, Dixon, Bowley (Libby 15), Humphreys, Rance, Taylor, Cox (Stroud 70), Hudson, (Hutchins 20), Taylor, Jennings, Neville. *Aldermaston's reputation as poor travellers continued as they went down 27-12 at Grove in BB O Division One (South).
Aldermaston, who were already weakened by a spate of injuries, then lost influential full-back Paul Stevens and Grove took full advantage to run out comfortable winners. Steve Tabor scored a fine solo try for Aldermaston but Grove ran in three of their own to lead 15-5 at the break. Grove then added a further 12 points after the break to lead 27-5 but Aldermaston didn't give up and claimed the final try of the game when Ian Martin touched down and then slotted the conversion.
Aldermaston: Robert Mitchell, Mark Ford, Steve Thompson, Chris Grapes, Brinley Filer, Nicky Adkins, Tim Brooks (c), Glyn Lees, Richard Evans, Ian Martin, Nathan Quelch, Rob Picken, Steve Tabor, Elliot Lowe, Paul Stevens. Subs: Louis Brooks, Dan Lowe, Oli Snowball.
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