Reading dismissed their early season blues with a fine win over Shipston running in eight tries to their opponents two.
The return of Josh Nichol and Ryan Smith for his 100th first team cap added stability in the pack and Reading made excellent use of the lion’s share of the ball won by the pack with wings Robbie Webster and Matt Daw both running in two tries.
Reading took the lead after five minutes when from a scrum the ball was worked quickly to Matt Daw on the wing who ran outside his marker and showed a good turn of speed to out strip the covering defence and cross for an unconverted try.
Reading soon added another try this time through Gavin Egan. Playing at number eight, after Ben Cunningham was injured in the warm up, he controlled the ball well as the Reading pack pushed their opponent’s scrum over the line.
Reading extended their lead just prior to the break. The versatile Will Proctor-Searle, this week playing at flanker, took a quick penalty on the Shipston 22 and passed to impressive debutant Nathan Wheeler who showed speed and strength to beat the covering defence and score an unconverted try in the corner.
A series of scrums in the Shipston 22 put intensive pressure on the Shipston pack and the last of these resulted in repeated drives for the Shipston line from which Steve King forced his way over for a try converted by Tom Sharp.
Directly from the kick off there was more joy for Reading as the ball was moved through a number of hands to Robbie Webster who beat his man to run clear for an unconverted try to make the score 30-3 in Reading’s favour.
Reading were now full of confidence and from a scrum in the Shipston 22, a clever move involving Alex Murray Smith and outside half Finbar O’Regan opened a gap in the Shipston defensive line that Tom Sharp gratefully charged through to score an unconverted try.
Reading soon added another and this time it was Matt Daw who scored his second try under the posts finishing off a move started by Tom Sharp who had quickly pounced when a Shipston move broke down in the Reading 22. Tom Sharp converted to make the score 42-3.
Shipston came back towards the end of the game and scored two late tries one from a line out close to the line and one from a penalty also close to the line which was converted. In between, Reading added a good individual try from Robbie Webster who picked up the ball in his own half and beat four defenders to make the line.
The foundation of this win was a strong scrum which was certainly much better for the return of Smith and Nicol. The lineouts also went well with Egan winning some good possession The backline was equally impressive and made good use of the ball with some strong running and slick passing especially by the two wingers.
Reading coach Lee Goodall congratulated all of his team on a solid performance. He was particularly pleased with the reaction to the Salisbury game and that the things worked on in training had come off.
The team will have to keep this level and more next week when they play at Stow, the only team to do the double over them last season.
Reading scorers: Tries: Matt Daw (2), Robbie Webster (2), Gavin Egan, Nathan Wheeler, Steve King, Tom Sharp, Cons: Tom Sharp (2), Penalty Tom Sharp
Team: Tom Sharp; Robbie Webster, Tom Lushington, Alex Murray Smith, Matt Daw; Finbar O’Regan, Nathan Wheeler; Josh Pallett, Steve King, Josh Nichol; Ben Wills, Ryan Smith; Max Pepper, Will Proctor-Searle, Gavin Egan.
Replacements: Nick Portch, Kyle Turner, Rob Cunningham (did not feature),
Report by Peter Chidgey
