With Rory away for the Saturday it was Daniel Ap Dafydd that took charge of team coaching affairs for the day. Unfortunately for the travelling supporter’s, despite an entertaining game, Bracknell would not record a win on the road and they continue to remain without an away win this season.

Bracknell s line up included the returning Kenny ‘Lazarus’ Barry and George Milligan in the starting line for the first time this season.

With Bracknell playing with the wind in the first half it was they that were to open the scoring. With eight minutes gone number eight Lachlan Valentine scored a try off a scrum following a number of Bracknell phases. Liam Hemming converting.

A minute later Colchester opened their account with a penalty from fly half David Higgins following a Bracknell collapsed scrum.

With Bracknell enjoying most of the possession, a jinking run from Liam Hemming saw him score under the posts. Converting his own try, left the scoreline 3 – 14 to Bracknell, with just sixteen minutes gone.

Colchester responded with another penalty from fly half David Higgins. Half time score line 6-14.

The second half started badly for Bracknell, within four minutes Colchester had cut their lead, with a try from openside flanker Daniel Whiteman.

Colchester now had their tails up and leveled the score with a penalty from David Higgins, awarded against Bracknell for not releasing the ball in a tackle. 14-14.

Things were to get worse for Bracknell as a deft kick through Bracknell’s back line allowed Colchester full back Jaid Wiltshire to score. Conversion was missed but Colchester had taken the lead for the first time in the game with just twelve minutes of the second half gone..

Bracknell were to answer with a try from winger Ben Yates, after Kenny Barry broke the Colchester defensive line, Liam Henning making the incisive pass. The conversion was rightly awarded by referee Martin Wood. Bracknell lead 19-21 and were looking like they had weathered the Colchester comeback.

This was not to be the case! The final and divisive try was scored by full back Jaid Wiltshire following a period of scrappy play. Conversion was missed by Colchester but they had their noses back in front.

Bracknell’s final chance came with a break by Liam Hemmings, which created some space on the wing, the final ball going to ground. It is by these fine margins that games are decided.

Final score Colchester 24 – 21 Bracknell (Points: Colchester 4 – 1 Bracknell)

Rory and the coaching staff will now have a week to work out how Bracknell can start recording some more wins before they play unbeaten London Irish on 2nd October kick off 1pm.

Bracknell 1:Jonny Mirza ( C ) 2:Stuart Silvester 3:Rob Baragwanth 4:Kenny Barry 5.Josh Kronman 6:George Milligan 7:Tom Devereux 8:Lachlan Valentine 9:Jack Conway 10:Liam Hemming 11:Stuart Mackay 12:Dan Faamatuainu 13:Joe Price 14:Ben Yates 15:Lewis Dennet Subs: Tom Williams Matt Brambley Neil Higgins

Pete’s Predictions
It’s been difficult to concentrate on predictions while the Rugby World Cup has been on the go but now that it is all over I can get back to some serious predicting without any more distractions.

Having missed a couple of weeks I can already see that one of my predictions is already looking a little shaky. After predicting a return to level 4 I see that Shelford lost games 4 and 5, admittedly to table topping teams, but have then just scraped an away win at struggling Gravesend. This is not promotion winning form.

Irrespective of what I thought would be a tough trip, Wimbledon achieved their first ever win at this level across the channel and are now settling into level 5 rugby. A last gasp win at home against Colchester was followed by a commendable 2 point loss at promotion hunting Irish

Promotion candidates.
With Shelford dropping off the pace there are now only 2 sides without a loss, Tonbridge and Irish, both having missed out on a bonus point just the once. If they weren’t to win another game this season I reckon they would be safe but that will be the last thing on their minds as they remain on track for title contention

Win of the week.
As a reminder, the criteria for “Win of the week” are for example away wins, beating opposition placed higher in the league and winning games against fellow promotion or relegation battlers but this doesn’t exclude a plain and simple hammering of the opposition.
Rather like week 3, no-one got a thumping this week with the highest score being just 36 points. Only one side won away from home but I expect Shelford will simply be relieved rather than enthused.

This week, Win of the Week goes to Hertford as they inflict the first loss of the season on high flying Westcombe Park. 14-13 sounds like a real nail biter and a game that perhaps they may not have been expecting to win

Relegation worries.
At the time of my last round of predictions in week 3 there were 4 sides without a win. Of those 4 sides, Wimbledon and Chichester have picked up 2 wins apiece to alleviate any immediate concerns but the other 2 have not seen the same success. Westcliff and Eton Manor remain winless and are joined in the bottom 4 by Bracknell and Gravesend – sides who have not won in several weeks but have a knack of picking up bonus points.

I still think that anyone in the bottom half of the table could be dragged in to the relegation zone because some sides will have had an easier run of fixtures than others but I stand by my prediction that Bracknell will survive. Despite a disappointing loss at Colchester there are a few signs of improvement as both old and new faces return after injury, a delayed start to the season or a long layoff. They should keep in mind that the last time Bracknell were in this league they arrived through level transfer from South West leagues and left it by relegation. I hope history will not repeat itself.

I mentioned earlier that this was a particularly low scoring week with the highest points tally being only 36. It is worth noting however that these 36 points were scored against Eton Manor – the fifth time in seven games that they have been on the wrong end of the highest score of the week. I’m afraid that’s relegation form.

Go BRFC!