Thatcham II 14 - 33 Bracknell III

After winning the top of table clash last week the ‘Mighty Threes’ had another difficult fixture, away against side in joint second , Thatcham II’s.

With a extremely strong wind against them Bracknell started well. Showing they meant business by driving the Thatcham pack backwards in the first scrum. A very great start as this is an area in which Thatcham are renowned, a club who have a strong scrummage throughout.

As the game progressed Bracknell continued to dominate in the pack, the back row of Nigel Wright, Scott Walters and Paul Gosling worked tirelessly in the loose and in driving Bracknell forward. The forwards gave a good base for the backs. Sam Turney fed Ben Radford good ball which was used wisely in the conditions, and gaps started to appear in the Thatcham defence. This saw the centres of Matt Tipper and Nathan Mannering make penetrating runs with Daniel Borthwick coming in the line numerous times to create overlaps. The scores began to come and after a great first half team performance against the wind Bracknell went in at the break 7-21 up.

A tactical change at half time saw coach P.J bring on Barry Dwyer at scrum half to use the ball wider and have fly half Ben Radford to sit deeper and use his kicking with the wind to pen Thatcham back and starve them of territory.

The second half could not have started any better for Bracknell, within two minutes in they had scored a try after a well worked move in the backs, winger Martin Cooper going over.

Unlike other sides who would have folded at this score Thatcham regrouped and to their credit came back at Bracknell. Keeping the ball with their forwards, they drove at the Bracknell line scoring a try to which was converted. This score was nearly added to as Thatcham adopted the same pattern for a 10 minute patch but determined defence and some big tackles from Bracknell saw them weather this storm.

Thatcham heads were dropping as they could see that not only in attack Bracknell were strong but they were a well drilled side in defence , turning ball over. Once again Bracknell settled back into their game plan and the remainder of the game was spent in Thatcham`s half with Ben Radford drilling monster kicks into the oppositions 22 and consequently another two tries coming. Martin Radford came on at fly half, with the back line shuffled along, John Boucher came in at full back, Nicholas O'Brien for Nigel Wright in back row, along with Dave Rosi for Simon Brambley in the front row. The game was closed out and the final whistle went 14-33 to Bracknell.

The were some excellent performances in this game.... the pack in general with skip Jon Bullett leading from the front, some great carries from Jason Lewis at second row, Paul Gosling at number eight and Gareth Staples at prop.... Strong runs from all of the backs who played really well as a unit.

Man of match was Scott Walters at 6, who came back after two weeks injury, (dislocated his knee cap), he was a thorn in the side of Thatcham always at the break down, put in some big hits and supported runners throughout - though all the team should be proud on their performance!

This result saw Bracknell go clear at the top by 4 points and unbeaten still , now they have beaten all in the league and skipper Jon Bullett and coach P.J have the first part of their campaign ticked.

The ‘Mighty Threes’ squad know they cannot rest on their laurels and have to do it all again in a tough league, starting with a tricky away game next week at Grove.

Bracknell squad - Gareth Staples, Simon Brambley, Jon Bullett (C), Jim Empson , Rob Munro, Jason Lewis, Scott Walters, Paul Gosling, Nigel Wright, Sam Turney, Martin Radford, Matt Tipper, John Boucher, Martin Cooper, Farook Naji, Daniel Borthwick, Dave Rosi, Nicholas O'Brien, Lee Woods, Barry Dwyer, Nathan Mannering, Ben Radford