Newbury ended Reading’s run of three wins in four games scoring seven tries to Reading’s three in a 19-47 win.
Newbury were clinical in taking advantage of their opportunities in what despite the score was in many respects a closely matched game.
Reading started off on the front foot but were intercepted by the Newbury left wing who ran from his own half for a converted try under the posts.
Reading came back well, winning a penalty from their dominant scrum and driving the resulting line out from which Will Proctor Searle broke off to cross the line for an unconverted try.
The next score came from Newbury pouncing on a Reading move that had broken down and this time moving the ball quickly through a number of hands to score an unconverted try in the corner.
Stuart Borthwick forced his way over for a try which Dorliac converted to level the scores.
Newbury then scored a converted try after pressure in the 22 when a move seemed to have broken down but a bouncing pass sent the Reading defence the wrong way.
Reading again hit back almost at once when Ben Wills crossed in the corner after a strong break by Borthwick. The conversion from Tom Sharp levelling the scores at 19-19.
Just before half time Newbury took the lead again with their best move of the match to make it 19-26.
Newbury’s left wing pounced on the loose ball and sprinted the length of the field to score a converted try.
Newbury added two more converted tries firstly from a cleverly worked overlap on the right and then from a kick through and chase when it looked like the Reading defence had covered a Newbury break out on the left.
Reading complete the first half of their league season in a fortnight’s time at Witney who are currently third in the league and will be another stiff test for the Holme Park side.
Reading scorers:
Tries: Proctor-Searle, Borthwick, Wills
Conversions: Dorliac, Sharp
Team: Alex Dorliac; Robbie Webster, Alex Murray-Smith, Stuart Borthwick, Matt Daw; Finbar O’Regan, Nathan Wheeler; Stephen Orwin, Steve King, Josh Nichol; Ben Wills, Ryan Smith; Will Proctor-Searle, Gavin Egan, Ben Cunningham.
Replacements: Josh Pallett, Max Pepper, Tom Sharp.
Report by Peter Chidgey
