READING Ladies ended their South East West One campaign on a losing note as they were beaten 41-5 at home to Newbury on Sunday.

Despite some big tackles, notably from Reading newbie Sam Eggleton, the Blues scored early with centre, Megan Horwood, breaking through the home side’s backline and running over the line within the first 10 minutes of play. The try was converted by Chloe Hunt.

Newbury scrum-half Jeannie Ivanov added a second score, and although Reading enjoyed a spell of pressure before the break, they trailed 12-0 at the interval.

Just a minute into the second half, Newbury moved further ahead with an unconverted try, and it quickly became 22-0 as they crossed the whitewash for a fourth time shortly afterwards.

Injuries among the Reading backs saw veteran Natasha Holmes move in to fly half and she brought a much-needed lift in the speed of play in attack.

The hosts began to retain possession for longer periods and make significantly more ground, either through long kicks or through Holmes or centre Stef Dormer crashing through the midfield. The forwards also began punching holes around the fringes of the breakdowns.

However, Newbury’s quick off-loading game continued to leave holes in the Reading defence, and Sophie Ward scored under the posts before Hunt converted successfully.

With just 15 minutes left to play and chances of a win remote, Reading refused to give up, and with a strong scrum inside their own half, the home side’s No.8 Pippa Robinson scooped up the ball and charged down a full 70 metres, beating several Newbury defenders along the way to score her side’s only points of the match.

Despite further great efforts from Reading’s players – notably prop Charlotte Hunt, the versatile Donna Cox and scrum half Rachel Chidgey – Newbury scored two more tries in the final 10 minutes to add further gloss to the scoreline for the second-placed side.