Bracknell 3s took to the road again for the 2nd match of the season away to Abingdon and started that game with a few guys out of position due to some last minute changes to the team.

Despite these issues the game started well with Bracknell scoring early to take the lead shocking the home support. Following this score Abingdon rallied taking play into the Bracknell half.

Early in the first half Bracknell suffered their first set back loosing fly half Conner Sawdon with a shoulder injury. With no backs on the bench flanker John Roberts was forced to play almost a full game on the wing as an emergency re-organisation of the backline took place on the pitch. Unfortunately these changes took time to settle in and with the Abingdon forwards taking the game to Bracknell at the breakdown the scores were soon level and then Abingdon capitalised on a missed knock-on by the referee to grab a second try as several Bracknell players stopped for what many thought should have been a scrum.

A further problem for the mighty threes followed before the end of the 1st half with young winger Adam Francis picking up a hip injury and although he continued until half time he was unable to continue more than a couple of minutes into the second half. With this loss Bracknell were again forced to put a second forward into the backs with 'Gobble' taking to the wing much to the amusement of players and supporters alike!! Unfortunately Gobble obviously decided this was too much to take and proceeded to get himself a yellow card within about 30 seconds of being on the pitch.

Despite being 1 player down Bracknell managed to pick up the pace of the game with the forwards gaining some additional structure that had been missing in the first half. The backs defended very strongly making the lack of a player hardly noticeable, however, despite this were unable to prevent a third Abingdon score just before the end of the sin bin period.

With numbers restored Bracknell again pulled together with the set piece starting to provide some good ball for the backs. A classic mighty threes set piece move resulting in a second try for centre Darren Payne bringing the scores up to 20-14. A further chance to close the gap came shortly after with a penalty, unfortunately Bracknell were unable to convert this. In the closing stages of the game the visitors looked to come up with a potentially decisive score, however, an additional piece of bad luck came with No 8 Dave Rosi getting a second yellow card for Bracknell for trying to give an Abingdon player a gentle reminder that lying on the wrong side of a ruck is not a good idea. As a result the final 5 minutes of the game were played a player down.

In the closing stages an unfortunate loose pass resulted in Abingdon poaching an opportune late score taking the game beyond Bracknell. With about 1 minute still to play Bracknell launched into the opposition to try and grab a last score to gain a loosing bonus point, however, this wasn't to be and the game finished 27-14.

Despite the disappointment of the loss the team were generally positive with everyone giving maximum effort throughout the match. Players deserving of a mention in the dispatches include Josh Gaff playing out of position in hooker, John Roberts and Gobble as back row forwards playing on the wings and Stu Laye, possibly the only player who in the space of 24 hours moved from hooker to full back and finished the game a fly half!!

Top performances were put in by flanker Matt Lawes and centre Darren Payne, with man of the match going to Darren for his two tries and some top notch defending throughout.