South West One

South West One
Bracknell 15 v Coney Hill 10
By Henry La

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For the third time this season Bracknell made hard work in beating the West Country team Coney Hill. This time they won 15-10 at Lily Hill but, squandered numerous opportunities to go into a first half commanding lead. They then underperformed in the second half to the extent that Coney Hill finished the game looking the better team.
Player/ Coach Chris Sheasby was clearly frustrated saying, “We played sublime rugby in the first half and again at the start of the second but after that, we were absolutely appalling.”
He explained, “We started the match and showing our intent by scoring the try early in the first half. We showed we had patience and followed it up with the penalty, then other try. They couldn’t score because we knew how they would play and nullified their strengths. We were in total control, forcing them to make mistakes which the referee penalised and ultimately had to issue them two yellow cards. “
Describing the reason that Bracknell went from the totally dominant position to having Coney Hill push them back into their own half for much of the second half, Sheasby said, “This happened after we made four silly mistakes in a row and from then on we lost our composure. We started to make more mistakes, especially behind the scrum and they were out scrumming us, which is something that hasn’t happened in a long time. Our play then deteriorated to the level that brought us to the attention of the referee and we conceded penalties in situations we handled in the first half.”
Asked what his team should have done Sheasby was insistent, “We should have got nastier in all aspects of our game and stopped them getting the ball but we didn’t. In fact, if we had played this way I believe that some of the injuries picked up could have been avoided.”
Skipper Ben Nowak was equally disappointed, explaining that his team faded because, “We were poor with our decision making, and we continually took the wrong option at the back of rucks and mauls. This played into their hands by turning the game into a series of set pieces and the game got scrappier. This is just what they wanted!”
Nowak believes some players have become too comfortable saying, “People need to listen and learn and they are mistaken if they think they won’t be replaced. There are guys in the 2nd team who are playing well and will get their chance.”

Looking on the bright side, Nowak feels his team’s prospects for promotion are still good, “We now play the top teams at home, winning will keep us in the fight for second place plus, it will be important we put a good run together for the other games.”
In reasonable weather conditions Bracknell kicked off down the Lily Hill slope, pressuring Coney Hill from the start they won a penalty inside the first minute. When referee Mr Adam Friend, a person Bracknell regard with some suspicion following his performance at the Clifton match earlier in the season, had quickly taken action after seeing a Coney Hill infringement deep in their own territory.
In confident mood, Bracknell ignored the easy option of kicking the penalty for 3 points instead going for the harder 5 point option of taking a lineout to set up a catch and drive.
Though failing to achieve this, it only took another two minutes for Bracknell to score. It followed a move started by an excellent Dave Budge ‘up and under’ which fortunately bounced back into his hands. His pass resulted in a flowing move across the Bracknell backs and onto Stuart Mackay who, under pressure, clinically finish off the move. Nowak narrowly missed with his conversion kick but the game had the look of a potential runaway win for Sheasby’s team.
Bracknell were playing terrific rugby and it was only desperate actions by the Coney Hill defence that prevented further scores by the home team. On 15 minutes Mr Friend awarded another penalty that Nowak converted which moved his team into an 8-0 lead.
To compensate for playing up the slope in the second half it was important that Bracknell built up good early lead but poor ball retention when in scoring positions, prevented this.
Coney Hill finally lost their discipline on 25 minutes and hooker Ryan Nicholls was shown the yellow card. Bracknell quickly took advantage of the extra player after a clever move between Jervis Manupenu and the scorer Ben Nowak scored under the posts. His conversion pushed Bracknell’s lead out to 15-0 and it stayed this way until half time. But knowing the tenacity of the visitors, especially playing down the slope, begged the question of whether this was going to be enough?
The visitors cause wasn’t helped at the start of the second half when on 43 minutes their fly half Ryan Barnett was shown a yellow card for talking back at the referee but instead of using this as a springboard to rack up a big score, Bracknell let their advantage slip.
Their pack was under pressure through the game but it got worse in the second half. They were not helped by Mr Friend’s inability to understand on the Bracknell put into the scrum, the rapidly rotating scrum was the result of illegal pulling by the Coney Hill back row. It is an old trick but referees, who are usually not experienced in the black art of forward play, put it down to superior strength and technique by the team trying to gain possession.
Still, in the end, it is up to the Bracknell forwards to overcome the problem and they failed to do this. Consequently Coney Hill clawed their way back into the game and this was largely due to the efforts of full back Martin Knight who scored a try on 57 minutes, after converting this, he scored with a penalty on 72 minutes.
The scores had narrowed to within one try but Bracknell had just enough in hand to creep to the final whistle, gaining 2 valuable points to consolidate their third place behind Clifton and Bournemouth. Old Patesians narrowly beat Redingensians 5-7 and remain one point behind Bracknell. Redingensians have a game in hand and are just two points behind Bracknell.
At the end of the day it was a win over a team who seem to relish getting into a scrap against Bracknell, probably because of the Berkshire teams successful league history and having international players of Sheasby’s level at the Club. He summed it up, “I relish their attention because while they focus their efforts on me, it means they are losing it elsewhere!!”
As a postscript, Mr Friend didn’t have a bad game and we hope the Clifton experience was a one off for Bracknell.
Next week Bracknell have a difficult away game against Barnstable, whose home record is very good. They will certainly not be prepared to roll over at the thought of the team who thrashed them 48-6 earlier in the season, visiting them.