If they were to pay too much attention to the predictions of the Rugby Round-up league report for National 3 South West, home fans may well have turned up at Bracknell’s latest league match against a Weston-Super-Mare (WsM) side who finished 3rd in this league last year with the faint hope of a losing bonus point.

Closer attention to the predictions however, sees the sage of Rugby Round-up to have had a less than auspicious success rate of 3 from 7 this week and I’m pleased to be able to confirm that the predicted away win for WsM was one the games that call his foresight into question. To be fair, it’s early days in a tight league so I guess you can’t expect miracles.

One thing that may have helped followers to foresee the eventual result was the fact that WSM have never won at Lily Hill Park – a statistic that the visiting committee were well aware of. More significantly perhaps, at the end of last season WsM won a hotly contested Somerset Cup Final against Old Redcliffians by a single point – and Old Reds
being well beaten at Lily Hill Park only 2 weeks ago should have given encouragement to the Bracknell faithful.

As the game got under way it was WsM who created the early pressure. A large pack and good control of the ball through recurrent phases left Bracknell with little to do but defend in the early stages – but they defended well. Sustained pressure resulted in no more than a penalty that put the visitors into an early 0-3 lead.

It was Bracknell who crossed the line first through Liam Prescott who, playing his first game in his preferred No. 10 shirt, took the responsibility to convert good ball from the forwards into points with a dummy and a shimmy that put him under the posts. If only those quick feet had taken enough time to compose themselves and slot the simple conversion – but the 2 point points went begging. 5-3.

As Chris Laidler chased his own long kick from his 22 he missed the chance to turn a good kick into a great kick by putting in a telling tackle and the ensuing melee proved costly. Any good side should capitalise on mistakes and the WSM No. 10 counterattacked through a fragmented defence to set up a WsM try that should have given the kicker little trouble to convert but that was not to be the case. 5-8.

After a rather long range penalty attempt from the visitors failed in what appeared to be the final minute of the first half, never say die Bracknell made good ground and forced an opportunity of their own. This time round the Bracknell No. 10 made amends for his earlier missed conversion and Liam Prescott’s boot hit the target to take Bracknell into their half time break on equal terms which, remarkably, has been the case for all 3 games so far this season.

If the trend of going into the home dressing room at half time on equal points and coming out to outplay the opposition in the second half can be continued then this season should hold no fears – because this is exactly what Bracknell did yet again. For some time now, a fit and agile Bracknell side have been able to gain the upper hand in the later stages of a game – and today was to be no exception. Early pressure from a WSM side that had benefited from the half time rest gave the opposition an 8-11 lead which was duly annulled by another Prescott penalty. 11-11

As the game ebbed and flowed WsM secured another penalty to take the score to 11-14 but they were never to really threaten the Bracknell line again. This was the point at which the Bracknell side’s superior fitness started to tell and even in the scrum, where they had been under pressure earlier in the game, they took the upper hand. A 30 metre drive following a lineout sucked the strength from the tiring legs of the opposition and when the drive was finally halted illegally, Bracknell’s Prescott slotted the penalty that brought the sides back on terms. 14-14.

It may be the red wine tinted eyes of the writer that saw nothing but a home win from here on but even sober watchers agreed that Bracknell had the edge in all departments in the closing stages. The pressure they built forced the final decisive penalty to take the score to 17-14. In the crucial final seconds of the game, the restart was snaffled by Kenny Barry and text book recycling by a now dominant pack led to a good clearance from Prescott and WsM found themselves with too much to do with too little time to do it in. A long range penalty attempt in the dying seconds never troubled the home support and the sight of the Bracknell 8 clearing the ball into touch to prompt the final whistle sparked off well deserved celebrations. WsM will have to wait at least another year for their first taste of victory at Lily Hill Park although I am sure they will make life difficult for us at The Recreation Ground on 4th January

Whilst pointing out that a first rate team performance warrants a big hand to all participating players and coaches alike, Matt Brambley’s move from back row to front row should not go without mention, the sight of the rangy Leo Bailey in the back row released from the confines of second row was notable and the first appearance of Neil Higgins this season was good to see – not to mention Liam Prescott’s contribution of all 17 of Bracknell’s points

(Bracknell Mirza, Fillier, Brambley, Barry, Taylor, Bailey, Milligan, Maybury (c), Ap Dafydd, Prescott, Mackay, Nowak, Breber, Burch, Laidler, Reps Staples, Baugh, Higgins)

Thoughts and predictions
It’s rather strange that so early in the season, the top 4 stay just where they were before kick off today – despite 2 of those sides losing – but same as last week, we’ll take 4th for now.
Lydney still look like the side to beat while Amersham and Chiltern lost their first away game confirming as some suspected that they are less than unbeatable

My apologies to Old Redcliffians who, after confining them to a season long relegation battle after our first game are now just a bonus point behind us with a better points difference!!!

The 3 sides at the bottom, Centralians, Avonmouth and Worcester have rather surprisingly been joined by Brixham – but don’t think for a moment that Valentine’s Day will be all roses and warm embraces.

Considering our performances so far against opposition who have fared rather well in their other games this season – played 6 won 5 if you exclude their games against Bracknell – I now see us as a genuine top end of the table side

Our game next Saturday is away at Amersham and Chiltern which will be another stern test that should shed even more light on our prospects for the rest of the season

I hope to see you there!