Newbury Match Preview
By James Roach
October 28 2005
The tale of two cities, one with a magnificent rugby history and one setting the division alight with their exciting brand of free running rugby. The third away game of the season sees the Blue and Whites venture south to newly promoted Newbury for the first of two games in as many weeks. Kick-off is at 3:00pm.
Division Two runners-up Newbury have made quite an impression on the rest of their new division. Currently sitting pretty in fourth with 4 wins out of 6, the West Berkshire outfit have surely something to smile about.
Last month Newbury played host to the Cornish Pirates, the team currently occupying the 2nd spot under Harlequins. The home team gave them a run for their money, last touch of the game touching down to bring them within a point of the Cornish buccaneers. A failed conversion saw them eventually lose 26-25.
Last week, Newbury travelled up north to recently re-branded Earth Titans full of hope but went home with their tails between their legs, losing 38-23. A comedy of errors in a fast paced game was their downfall. 12-nil down within the first four minutes, a finely executed move, resulting in a try for Kenny Bingham, finally gave the away team something to cheer about. Scores either side of the break from Rob Faulkner and Glenn Cooper reduced the deficit to just five points.
Newbury will be looking to get back to winning ways this weekend and the Blue and Whites are treating it a must win game. With only one win in eight games, things are getting desperate at the Butts Park Arena. The next three weeks see Coventry travel down to Newbury for two successive weeks, the second in the Cup and then the third away game against Midland rivals Nottingham.
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Coventry |
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Newbury |
|
Richard Davies |
15 |
Malvolio Roberts © |
|
Kurt Johnson |
14 |
Kenny Bingham |
|
Donovan Sanders |
13 |
Mark Ireland |
|
Andrew Vilk |
12 |
Duncan Bell |
|
James Moore |
11 |
Nutt |
|
Jon Higgins |
10 |
Blair Feeney |
|
Mike Walls |
9 |
Dan Smaje |
|
Kisi Pulu |
1 |
Rob Faulkner |
|
Rich Protherough |
2 |
Glenn Cooper |
|
Pete Bucknall |
3 |
Simon Carter |
|
Paul Clapham |
4 |
Andrew Smith |
|
Ben Gulliver |
5 |
Dan Smith |
|
Henno Venter |
6 |
Matt Styles |
|
Mike Buckingham |
7 |
Chris Cracknell |
|
© Hendry Rheeders |
8 |
Dave Lubans |
|
|
Reps: |
|
|
Rob Chrystie |
16 |
Mike Baxter |
|
Dave Harvey |
17 |
Reuben Aiono |
|
Nik Witkowski |
18 |
Richard Briggs |
|
Maafu Pale |
19 |
Jarvis |
|
Niall Treston |
20 |
Robin Scothern |
|
Dan Farani |
21 |
Andrew Tibbatts |
|
Gareth Gravell |
22 |
Raynn Bruce |