Reading RFC finished their league season with a loss to local rivals Newbury in a match which in many ways was typical of their season.
Reading were in the game until the last five minutes when Newbury, with two late converted tries, pulled away to win by a margin which did not reflect the game and left Reading bottom of the league.
Reading had their opportunities particularly in the second half but were not able to press home their advantage when they achieved good attacking positions.
As again was typical of the season, Reading conceded early in the game when Newbury moving slickly through the phases in their first real attack found the edge of the Reading defence to score a converted try.
Despite Reading’s early dominance in the scrums, Newbury doubled their lead ten minutes later when after Reading conceded a number of penalties Newbury drove over a line out from five metres out for another converted try.
With Newbury playing with a strong wind behind them things were not looking good but Reading came back almost immediately.
Dorliac, in his last game for Reading, ran back a Newbury clearance and made good ground, David carried the ball on into the Newbury 22 and it was then moved to Barker -Lopez who showed a good turn of speed to score in the corner.
It was Newbury who scored next after Clark had been yellow carded for a deliberate knock on which stopped a good Newbury attack. The ball was moved wide from the resulting penalty and Newbury scored an unconverted try in the corner.
Reading held out for the rest of the yellow card period and finished the half on top although they wasted two penalties in the Newbury half, one of which was kicked long and the other when they missed the resulting line out. This left the half time score at 5-19 to the visitors.
It was left to scrum half Wheeler to open their second half account with a fine opportunist try.
Reading however were unable to score again. The nearest they came to another try was through Proctor-Searle on his 100th appearance, who was denied by the referee ruling that he had made a double movement when he forced his way over from close in.
With five minutes left Newbury scored a converted try through a break from a maul after a scrappy period of play and then with the last play of the match scored another converted try after Reading tried to move the ball in their own 22 but lost possession.
This match marked the last appearances of Alex Dorliac and Rob Cunningham, two of Reading’s long-term stalwarts.
Dorliac, who played over 270 games and scored 845 points was noted, amongst other things, for his speed and ability to beat opposition players whilst Cunningham was a strong running forward who played over 100 games and scored 32 tries many of them from number eight.
Reading now finish their season in the Regional Shield. Round One of which is away at Salisbury on Saturday.
Scorers
Tries: Barker-Lopez, Wheeler
Reading RFC: Alex Dorliac, James Barker-Lopez, Jos Clarke, Tom David, Jason Carr; Tom Sharp, Hayden Wheeler; Joe Clarkson, Steve King, Josh Nichol (capt); Rob Cunningham, Harvey Rice; Will Proctor-Searle Ollie Humphreys, Alex Rowe.
Replacements: Olie McGlennon, Charlie Attard, Stu Borthwick,
Report by Peter Chidgey
