South West One

South West One
Chippenham 20 v Bracknell 20

Bracknell’s failure to come away with two points for a win rather than the one for the leaves them one point behind first place Clifton, who lost against Cleve, leaves them in second place rather than being top for the first time this season.
Though he didn’t know this at the time, it was a very subdued Player/Coach Chris Sheasby who was clearly disappointed with his teams below par performance saying,” Following their first half penalty, we ball watched at the restart and gifted them the first half try which let them into a 10-0 lead at half time.”
“After the narrow win at Exmouth we said that it was only a matter of time before our luck ran out because while we played well away at Exmouth and Barnstable, we relied on being fortunate in getting narrow victories there.”
“Today we looked lacklustre and I felt that we didn’t want it. So they were given a rocket at the half time break and it had the affect I wanted because we came out quickly and got 10 points in 10 minutes. That was good; then we the two more tries but missed the conversion near the posts that we should have got.”
“So then having done the hard work of playing well and not letting them out of their half, we then started missing tackles by going too high that allowed them to off load. Also we were kicking the ball down their throats rather than over their heads.”
“It wasn’t all bad because the times we did hit form we made it look easy with some lovely defence in the tackle area where we smashed them back and the ball spilled out. But, we weren’t ferocious for long enough.”
“Dan’s (Ap Dafydd) sin bin wasn’t necessary because he had been warned and in general, we gave away far too many penalties. Also, Jervis (Manupenu) wasn’t as commanding as he usually is so he didn’t get the space he needs to work in.”
“We will have to work hard this week and regain the intensity and focus that we have had this year. For the remaining games I want us to find that hunger and tenacity around the tackle area.
Regarding their promotion chances Sheasby said, “It’s still on and we have the top teams visiting us plus, they also have other hard games in the run in.”
Bracknell started the game strongly but were met by an equally determined team who chased everything and scrapped to slow down Bracknell ball. The wind blowing across the pitch was likely to affect the home team more as Bracknell would have the advantage of it in the second half as their superior fitness told.
Most of the early play took place in midfield although there was one chance for the visitors after 20 minutes when they were close to the try line and a Bracknell player, who was in a position to receive a try scoring pass, was tackled without the ball.
It was another 5 minutes before any points were scored. This fell to Chippenham’s centre Karl Brant who converted a penalty chance 20 metres out from the Bracknell line.
If this was a fortunate for the home team to score against the run of play, the try scored by Brant one minute later was simply bizarre. Manupenu’s high restart was missed by the home team but the ball bounced up 15 feet and back towards the rushing Bracknell forwards. As the visitor’s inexplicably watched on, Chippenham’s James Dazeley claimed it and passed it to Brant who scored unchallenged under the post. His conversion gave the home team a 10-0 lead and left Bracknell scratching their heads on how, despite their apparent dominance, they had allowed to let the game slip.
As Sheasby said, they were playing with little fire and were far too casual so, it was clear when they went into half time that they needed to wake up if they were to gain anything from this game.
The penalty count against both teams also told a story because at half time Bracknell had conceding 12 to Chippenham’s 3. It was also fortunate that referee Mr Mark Jackson was not taking a hard-line or Bracknell could well have suffered an early yellow cards or two being awarded against them.
Sheasby’s half time rollicking clearly had a marked affect on his team because from the kickoff they played great rugby similar to the Oxford and Weston–Super-Mare games where they score over 100 points.
It took just two minutes of the second half for skipper Ben Nowak to score from a simple penalty opportunity then two minutes later, Bracknell’s Stuart Mackay finished off a glorious three quarter move which started from a poor Chippenham clearance.
After 44 minutes the score had narrowed to 13-10 in favour of the home team but Bracknell were turning the screw.
The visitors should have scored from a catch and drive close to the Chippenham line but a wrong option movement lost them the chance.
Still, such was their dominance, other half chances came but it was replacement David Budge, on for the injured Neil Higgins, who on 60 minutes finished off from another tremendous running move by MacKay.
To the supporters Nowak’s kick appeared to go over but unfortunately the touch judges thought differently and the score remained 13-15 to the visitors.
Bracknell now started to lose control by easing off, which forced them back into a desperate defensive position with their lead only being preserved on 62 minutes after Brant missed an easy penalty chance.
Still, they are so well drilled in defence that they survived this phase of slack play and for a few minutes regained their promotion form when McKay scored an acrobatic try in the corner. Nowak missed a difficult conversion attempt but with 10 minutes left Bracknell had seemed to have pulled themselves into a winning position leading by 13-20..
Unfortunately, on 72 minutes the yellow card finally was shown and Ap Dafydd was the culprit. Being one man down with a resurgent Chippenham put the Bracknell’s defence under severe pressure. They were managing to hold out but there were some close calls including a charged down clearance kick and a number of Chippenham drives that ended close to the visitor’s line.
Also, there was a questionable touch line decision that, just before the final whistle, would have put Bracknell in the Chippenham half but the throw-in decision went against them. From it, the home team managed get the ball out to their backs and from a ruck managed to force the ball over for a try under the posts.
Brant converted, the referee blew for full time and Chippenham celebrated as though they had won promotion rather than edge out of the bottom spot. Bracknell meanwhile sloped off to lick their wounds and receive another Sheasby rollicking.
Nevertheless, elsewhere in the league, good fortune was smiling on them as Clifton were beaten at Exmouth plus, Bournemouth were surprisingly beaten at Cleve leaving Bracknell one point clear in second place and only one below Clifton.
Both these top teams visit Bracknell before the end of the season so if Bracknell can regain their form and win the remaining four games then, promotion is a real prospect.
A worry for Sheasby is the Bournemouth match follows another free weekend. This season there is a habit of them not playing well after a break due mainly to them being a team who rely on maintaining their playing rhythm. It will be interesting to see how the Coach overcomes this.
This weekend, Bournemouth’s conquerors Cleve visit Lily Hill with a 2:15pm kick-off.

*** Courtesy of Bracknell times