Windsor hoping to learn lessons for Blues test
Despite Windsor’s defeat to Bracknell on Saturday, Chris Emmett believes ‘there is no better time’ to play fellow high-flyers Newbury Blues, as the captain shared what was positive in their clash at Lily Hill Park and looked ahead to this weekend.
The Royals were beaten 29-14 away with Allen Crawshaw and Luke Budd scoring the side’s solitary tries. They gave away a lot of soft penalties and a few knock-ons which owed to the defeat, but Emmett was mostly pleased with his pack’s performance.
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East, Windsor remain in 11th and host fourth-placed Newbury Blues at Home Park next. The visitors suffered a surprising 33-29 defeat to Witney on Saturday, their second loss in three games.
Speaking to the Advertiser earlier this week, Emmett said: “Bracknell are a really good team, and you can definitely see why they are where they are in the league. When they had the opportunities, they took them.
“We gave away a lot of soft penalties and a few little soft knockons at times which stopped our momentum. It was a loss but there were some real positives to come from it and on another day if we had not given away so much of the ball, it probably would have been closer, and we could have maybe got over the line as winners.
“We went ahead 7-0 and then it was 10-7 with a minute to go before half-time. We turned the ball over and they scored a good breakaway try which we should have stopped. That gave them a bit of a cushion before half-time so that was frustrating because we played really well in the first half and dominated the scrum. We played some good patterns and had some good possession. Then, in the second half we had a few opportunities which we didn’t take.”
Emmett added: “We’ve got Newbury this weekend and when we played them at the beginning of the season, I think it’s fair to say, we got a fair old pasting. But, they’ve lost two out of their last three games.
“Yeah, there’s no better time. We’re playing them at home, and we should have a very competitive squad available this weekend. I know we’ve lost a few games lately, but the quality of performances and results have improved.