Chard 15 – 23 Bracknell

Bracknell’s hold on third place can hardly be described as a firm grip. A rather uninspiring win at Chard was just enough to stay above Brixham on point’s difference but the failure to secure a 4 try bonus point against a side rock bottom in the league has got to be seen as a disappointment.

This is not to take anything away from Chard who were spirited in defence and attack but lacked precision with the boot and were ultimately outclassed by Bracknell’s back three'

It was two of the back three who combined to open the scoring with the try of the day in the seventh minute. Following what would turn out to be a rather rare secure scrummage well inside the Bracknell half the ball found its way to Stuart Mackay who worked Ian Burch into space. Still with plenty to do Burchie beat the flailing defence one by one for the first of his two tries. The third member of the back three trio, George Owen, slotted the conversion 0 – 7.

If the away support thought this was the way the match was going to continue they were wrong. 20 minutes later it was Chard who closed the gap with a try through their forwards, but the conversion attempt was poor and the miss would prove to be costly.

Under pressure in the scrums and repeatedly drawn into an upfront battle when there seemed to be no need Bracknell took to kicking their penalties. George Owen’s 2 from 3 in the next 10 minutes took the score to 5 – 13. The last of these penalties was a result of a yellow card for Chard which was not to be their last. With Chard one man down Ian Burch pounced for his second this time unconverted to take the half time score to 5 – 18.

10 minutes after the restart the Bracknell back 3 were in action again and Stuart Mackay scored Bracknell’s third try. The sweetly struck conversion held up too well against the wind and missed to the windward side of the post from the touchline 5 – 23.

The wind, which I’ve not mentioned until now certainly had an effect on the game. Lineouts and simple passes were regularly blown off course and the result was a rather scrappy game in general. This is no real excuse for Bracknell failing to add their 4th try in the half hour that remained but I suspect that it contributed to it. In fact Bracknell weren’t to trouble the scorers again – although the scorer had enough to contend with given that the scoreboard seemed to have a life of its own. At one point Bracknell were losing 99 – 0, 95 – 23 and finally 85 – 23.

While Bracknell’s scoring had ended Chard had a purple patch to come and having managed to get some phases together scored twice in the last 20 minutes. A rather rash drop kicked conversion attempt after one try and a hit post in the final minute meant that the failure to convert any of their three tries cost the home side a bonus point at least and by not staying in contention perhaps even the chance of a lesser spotted home win.

While Bracknell’s back 3 scored all their points and were the difference between the two sides the other players of course played their part included debuts for Nathan Crow and Simon Bayliss. Chard fought hard and right to the final whistle but a solid albeit unspectacular all round Bracknell effort secured the win.

Final score Chard 15 – Bracknell 23 (Chard 0 points – Bracknell 4 points)

Bracknell – Matt Brambley, Stuart Silvester, Jonny Mirza, Leo Bailey, Ollie Taylor, Pete Austin, George Milligan (C), Michael Clarke, Daniel Ap Dafydd, Jack Conway, George Owen, Ben Nowak, Chris Brember, Ian Burch, Stuart Mackay. Subs – Kenny Barry, Nathan Crow, Simon Bayliss

Pete’s Predictions

Promotion candidates. After what has been and interesting couple of months at the top of the league there were no such surprises or upsets this week.

Win of the week. Ahead of the Devon Cup Final next week the two protagonists prepared in rather different ways. Brixham met Hornets head on at Astley Park while Newton Abbot appear to have rolled over rather meekly at Bournemouth. Even so, 28 – 3 is a resounding win over a side above them in the league so win of the week goes to Bournemouth

Relegation worries. Weston-super-Mare gained their second consecutive win on the trot so they at least seem to be going down fighting. You might think that I’m being a bit overconfident here but when you look at their remaining fixtures their opponents are all in the top 5. It’s a brutal run of fixtures to see out the season and I don’t see a way out for them
Their win may also have helped seal the fate of Oxford Harlequins. Quins have now lost 3 in a row to fellow relegation battlers and like W-s-M have a tough run in and I think they will struggle to gain the points they need to catch Old Pats

Next week’s fixtures The next full weekend of fixtures is in 2 weeks’ time. While I would love a tense finish at the top and the bottom I’m afraid I’m of the opinion that the important places (the top 2 and the bottom 3) have already been decided. Unless something very much unforeseen happens I don’t see anything changing from where things stand this week.

Bracknell host Weston-super-Mare on what is also the final round of the 6 Nations Championship (plus VP re match lunch) so there can be no better place to spend the day than Lily Hill Park

GO BRFC