3XV earn hard draw

With the absence of Matt Turner, who put work commitments before the team (bad form), the better Coach in the shape of Matt Tipper took a team of 24 players over to High Wycombe to play their 2's, containing a number of 1st team players as their 1st team, did not have a game.

Knowing we were in for a hard game Bracknell rose to the challenge and kicked off into a strong cross field wind.

For the first 20mins it was all Bracknell. HW couldn't get out of their own half. With HW giving penalty after penalty away Bracknell kicked to the corners and worked on their driving mauls from the lineouts. HW couldn't cope with them but we're saved several times by the ref and his interpretation of the 'truck and trailer' law. In hindsight of the final result maybe we should have opted for the post a few times but it was nice to see our platforms working.

Things changed on the 20min mark, with Dan Ledger having to leave the field with a dislocated finger that just wouldn't go back in, HW started to find their feet and apply pressure into the Bracknell half and stayed there for the rest of the half. This was a great time for Bracks to show their defensive structures and boy did they!! Hit after hit came flying in from all angles and this was summed up by a try saving tackle from about 3 Bracknell players on their 'juggernaut' who got smashed into touch just as he was about to dot down over the try line.

Half time 0-0.

With half time team talk about hitting the second half running and building back into our phase play the Bracknell boys decided to ignore it and for the next 20mins the game just didn't seem to flow for either teams. After many many scrums and lineouts Bracknell started to let the frustration creep into their game. Penalties were given away in the oppositions half who then cleared whatever pressure Bracknell was applying.

Then came HW's try which, due to the manner of it, added to the frustration. A clearing kick in midfield by Jake Findlay was picked up by the HW winger who was met with a great tackle by our Luke Fisher and both players fell to the floor. The ref called for Luke to release his man who then let go of the ball for a split second, regained his feet and ran off 10 yards down the pitch before passing to a couple of player to cross in the corner and run in under the posts!! This law needs looking into by the rfu as it's a massive loophole at the tackle area as there's nothing the tackling man can do to stop it and I've noticed it creeping into lots of the rugby games I've watched.

So with 15mins left and Bracknell feeling hard done by the inevitable happened and Bracknell started letting their heads drop. They were still structured in defence but were now sitting back and letting HW run at them. This continued for a while before Bracknell were forced into change. HW we're getting close to Bracknells line and the boys had to step the D's up. After about 5 or 6 attempts to cross the line, to no avail, Bracknell's 'blitz' defence was so good that the pressure Ben Radders put on his opposite number made him pass the ball straight into his arms and he cleared ranks.

That was the last time HW would see Bracknell's try line. Bracknell were lifted again and went out looking for a try. It didn't take long.

With 3 mins left on the clock and a lineout on the left side of the pitch, 40 out, Bracknell decided to score a 'coaches dream' try. From the won line out came a crash ball from the backs, linking with the forwards who went through a few Kiwi and Aussie balls. The ball was recycled quickly and great hands from the backs saw Lewis Sharp flying down the right wing only to be tackled almost into touch. Almost because he managed to throw the ball back into play before going out, gathered in and shipped on by the forwards who continued to suck defenders in with their fast rucking. By now HWs defence was narrow and noticing this Bradley Walters snuck out to the far left wing. Ben Radders knew what was on and once he got the ball he put boot to it with a perfectly placed cross field kick. It wasn't scored yet. Bradley still had to race to the ball to dot it down which he would have done had he listened to me shouting at the top of my voice that the ball was going to bounce up and back and not roll forward. Instead both he and the covering defender over ran the ball which bounced back over both their heads only to fall nicely into the supporting arms of Luke Fisher to dot down. This wonder try was expertly converted by Radders to tie the game at 7 a piece. No more time left to add to the score before the full time whistle went.

Full time 7-7.

In summary, this draw was a Bracknell win in my eyes. We needed a hard test before next weeks start of the league season and this was a massive test and one we would have won if we'd opted for posts in the first 20. I'm happy we didn't, as 80%of the time our structure and platforms were top draw. If we can just cut out the 20% of arguing and ill discipline we'll be the complete package.

Well done fellas. I should list the names of the stand out performers but can't, there weren't any. Everyone shone today. A special mention must go to Sam Holt and John Casey who I only managed to give a small amount of game time, sorry fellas.

Bracknell: 1 Dan Ledger 2 Richard Turner 3 John Gale 4 Richard Ayliffe 5 Tom Smith 6 Matthew Mark (c) 7 Ben Pilgrim 8 Tristan Jackson 9 Stuart Green 10 Benjamin Radford 11 Luke James Fisher 12 Jab Zilla 13 Jacob Clark 14 Lewis Sharp 15 Daniel Borthwick Replacements: 16 David Rosi 17 Peter Turner 18 Ricky Frost 19 Sam Holt 20 Jake Findlay 21 Andrew West 22 Karl Cook 23 Morgan Jenkins-Phillipps 24 Mathew Wise 25 Josh OR 26 John Casey