Bracknell 29 – 21 Newton Abbot

Of the top six sides in National 3 South West three of them are based in South Devon and 2 are based in East Berkshire. There is therefore a fair chance that one of these sides will be travelling the best part of 200 miles on a Saturday morning and close to 200 miles back.

For 10 weeks of the season a South Devon side will travel to East Berkshire or vice versa – and on two of those weeks the sides will pass another going in the other direction – this week being one of them with Redingensians at Exmouth.

This sort of travelling is tough enough without any added difficulties, so when Newton Abbott hit delays on the M4 and it was agreed that the kick off could be delayed for 15 minutes, Bracknell sniffed an opportunity to catch the visitors cold – and did just that.

Partly due to the wayward boot of the visitor’s No. 10 but mainly due to their complete dominance Bracknell racked up a 22 point first half shut out that looked unassailable. The first score was 2 minutes in from a George Owen penalty which was followed up 7 minutes later with a George Owen try. The first sign of life from Newton Abbot came towards the middle of the half but 2 misfired shots at goal didn’t trouble the young and enthusiastic group of scorers. 8 – 0.

A try by Pete Austin on his first start as hooker was followed up by a sharply taken tap penalty from 5 yards out by Barry Dwyer and with both tries converted Bracknell went into the changing rooms with a very healthy half time lead of 22 – 0.

Newton Abbot stayed out on the pitch for the half time break – perhaps to finish off what was left of their warm up – and looked the better for it after the restart. Home supporter’s hopes that there would be more of the same in the second half were dashed 7 minutes in with Abbot’s first score through their forwards – duly converted 22 – 7.

Normal service appeared to have been resumed 10 minutes later when a brilliant chip and chase by George Owen resulted in him converting his own try. At 29 – 7 Bracknell looked comfortable but this was to be their last score. Further pressure on the opposition line went unrewarded other than perhaps a yellow card to the opposition. I say perhaps because by this time it was getting dark and old eyes, already affected by Guinness, were struggling to make anything out in the gloom.

However many Newton Abbot players there were on the pitch, they rallied together for a barnstorming finale. Their second converted try took the score to 29 -14 and further pressure resulted in a yellow card for Leo Bailey and Bracknell were very much on the back foot. A third converted try took the score to 29 – 21 and all of a sudden the result looked in doubt for the first time in the match.

Confusion reigned on the home supporter’s terrace as we peered into the gloom – nobody knew how many players were on the pitch and – because the Guinness not only affected my eyesight but also my ability to operate a stop watch – nobody knew how long was left to play.

Time seemed to drag for Bracknell but there wasn’t enough of it left for Newton Abbot. No –one scored in the last 10 minutes or so, or if they did, no-one noticed and the final whistle saw Bracknell take their 5 point haul while Newton Abbot took nothing for their travels and troubles other than the right to feel a bit hard done by.

Bracknell 29 – 21 Newton Abbot

Bracknell – Jonny Mirza, Pete Austin, Matt Brambley, Leo Bailey, Ollie Taylor, Giuseppe Salustri, George Milligan (C), Nico Maybury, Barry Dwyer, Joe Price, Ian Burch, Sam Paine, Chris Brember, George Owen, Stuart Mackay. Subs – Nick Ovens, Kim Plant, Ben Nowak

Pete’s Predictions

Promotion candidates? If only someone had lent me that money last week we‘d be sitting pretty.

Redingensians beat Exmouth with a 5 point to nothing win on the road that opens up significant gap at the top of the table for the first time this season. Now that we have reached the mid-point of the season with everyone having played everyone else I’d be surprised if anyone can catch them. They have already played their 2 closest rivals away and have a 100% record at home.

Win of the week? Only 2 sides beat opposition placed above them in the league – Bracknell and Barnstaple – but they both had home advantage. 3 sides won away – Old Cents, Hornets and The Rams but while Old Cents just followed the form book and Hornets’ stuffing of near neighbours Weston-super-Mare might be win of the century for them – in the context of the league it has to be Redingensians.

Relegation worries? This week saw the league split still further into two so the sides in the bottom half of the league are still all in the relegation mix. Barnstaple will be relieved to have joined that clutch of sides with 4 wins and if they can repeat this in the second half of the season I think they will have done enough to survive

Next week’s fixtures There’s a tough looking match-up at Old Centralians as visitor’s Hornets try to stay in touch with the leaders. Old Cents have good home form but will home advantage be enough?

Bracknell travel to Old Patesians who despite their low league placing have won more games at home than anyone else in the bottom 5 so with a bit of Christmas spirit on the side-lines I don’t expect them to roll over and Bracknell will need all the support they can get!!!!

GO BRFC