1XV narrowly miss out in first ever encounter

Bracknell travelled to south Devon for the last time in 2019 to face seventh placed Okehampton for the first ever time in their history. Playing in level five for the first time, an unbeaten record at home has seen Okehampton make a good start to the season. This record includes home wins over second placed Weston-Super-Mare, Ivybridge to name a few and an away win at Newbury.

In a changed back line both Ben Radford and Luke Schofield were making their first team debuts. Elliott Bellman was cleared to play at a hearing on Friday night following his red card last Saturday.

It would be debutant Ben Radford that would open the scoring for Bracknell with a well struck penalty after ten minutes.

Okehampton took the lead with the games first try. From a quickly taken penalty, winger Gareth Espin found space to cross out wide with 20 minutes on the clock. Fly half Dan Fogerty added the extra’s.

Bracknell responded and from a line-out deep in Okehampton territory a driving maul saw Kieran Forbes dot down. Conversion from Ben Radford was good and Bracknell had re-taken the lead.

The final try of the half (and game) came from prop Nash Patrick, a number of pressure building phases allowed him to crash over from close quarters. The conversion from Dan Fogerty was good to give Okehampton a four-point lead at half time.

Half time: Okehampton 14 Bracknell 10

In a tight second half two Bracknell penalties from Ben Radford gave Bracknell a one point lead going into the final ten minutes.

Entering into the final ten minutes as Okehampton pressed for the winning score, Bracknell conceded a penalty deep in their own 22. From the penalty Dan Fogerty's kick was on target to give Okehampton the lead. A final Dan Fogerty penalty in the dying moments of the game was missed but Okehampton had done enough to secure the win, just.

Full time: Okehampton 17 Bracknell 16 (Points Okehampton 4 Bracknell 1)

Bracknell remain one point above the relegation zone in eleventh spot, but the gap between the bottom three sides has closed to only three points as the league reaches the half way stage.

Commenting after the game Chairman of Rugby Martin Radford said, “It's another game that got away against a team unbeaten at home in 18 months; compounded by some late Saturday morning team changes. So, this wasn't going to be classic, but the endeavour and work rate were excellent but again we failed to close out a slender lead in the final 10 mins through a lack of composure - all correctable so the work continues.”

Commiserations to the Stags and 4XV who both suffered defeats yesterday, better news for the Ladies as they progressed to the quarter final of the Junior National Cup.

The 1XV are back in action next Saturday when they face league leaders Barnstaple at Lily Hill in the final 1XV game of 2019. (KO 2.15pm). The Christmas lunch on the same day is sold out but get down and cheer the team in this final outing of 2019.

Bracknell: 1 Elliott Bellman 2 Michael Clarke (C) 3 Harry Challenor 4 Rhys Verley 5 Jamie Johnson 6 Alex Stanley 7 Tom Mew 8 Kieran Forbes 9 Lewis Franklin 10 Ben Radford 11 Ian Burch 12 Daniel Mays 13 George Owen 14 Luke Schofield 15 Ben Yates Replacements: 16 Nick Ovens 17 Sam Gibbons 18 Jake Findlay