A TREMENDOUS effort from the forwards in particular kept Reading very much in the game until well into the second half against Southern Counties North leaders Beaconsfield, but they ultimately slipped to a 27-10 defeat on Saturday.

The visitors dominated things up front, but were unable to cope with the home side’s ability to turn opportunities into points. This was finally to prove the key difference between the sides.

Following on from last week’s 61-17 thrashing at home to Windsor, however, this was an encouraging performance.

Head coach Ben Wills (pictured) had based his game plan on Reading’s power in the scrum and he was pleased with much of what he saw.

He said: “I can’t fault anyone, they all worked their socks off. The scrum was fantastic, the line-out was fantastic.

“Perhaps our only weakness was decision-making in their 22. They are top of the league and we ran them all the way. I’m mega proud of the way we played.”

What Reading lacked, against a side which was always dangerous when they had the ball, was someone with a huge boot to keep the forwards deep in their opponents’ half.

The home scrum was driven backwards on many occasions yet their No. 8, Sam Cartwright, was able to tidy up well and was even able to set up scrum half Aled Lewis for a well-taken try from a retreating scrum.

Their last try came direct from a line-out close to the Reading line when the visitors held off without competing, expecting the referee to penalise the driving lineout; he didn’t.

It was Reading, however, who started the game the better, given impetus by the return of outstanding skipper Charlie Davies, playing just his second game of the season.

In the 11th minute he caught line-out ball near the line and Adam Beale was driven over for the try.

Reading remained well in the game, but found the home defence difficult to break down and it was Beaconsfield who scored after 33 minutes.

This came from their forwards who set a line-out catch and drive from five metres out to touch down, Lewis’ fine conversion giving them the lead for the first time. A Lewis penalty just on half time gave the home side a 10-5 lead at the interval.

Reading started the second half well as Alex Murray-Smith’s grubber kick set up an attacking position. Unfortunately, a penalty kick to set up a five metre line-out just went too far and a try-scoring opportunity was lost.

Soon after, a clever cross-field kick from fly half Freddie Pugh set up a try for wing Idrusu Labri, converted by Lewis, to take Beaconsfield’s lead to 17-5.

Reading needed a quick score to stay in the game and it came as they set up a five-metre scrum from which there was no stopping them, hooker Barney King touching down.

Beaconsfield worked their way back and from a scrum 15 metres out, scrum half Lewis took the ball from his retreating scrum and raced away for a fine try.

Ten minutes later they followed this up with their controversial line-out try to complete the scoring.

Reading kept going with Chris Greig coming close to a score, but Beaconsfield emerged with their bonus point win to maintain their position at the top of the table.

Reading host Stow-on-the-Wold this coming Saturday (2pm).

  • BERKSHIRE Shire Hall ended their five-match losing run in the BB&O Championship with a comfortable 27-15 home success against Faringdon.

The sixth-placed side travel to the side one place below them, Farnham Royal, on Saturday.