Match report by Dan Ledger.

Bracknell travelled to Shire Hall looking to maintain their 100% league record, a couple of late drop outs meant some last minute changes to the team. But nevertheless a strong lineup left looking forward to the afternoon.
After some sloppy work in the pack last week the forwards were determined to put in a better show and from the start the set piece was more secure against a strong Shire Hall scrum allowing the backs to launch a number of attacks into the Shire Hall territory. However, it was the home team that put first points on the board with a penalty in front of the posts just clearing and putting Shire 3 points ahead. This spurred on Bracknell who began to put some sustained pressure on and were rewarded with a try from Ni Butler. With that score on the board Bracknell were able to pull clear with the pack continuing to supply good ball and went in at the break in front.
The second half continued with more of the same with some of the home team forward starting to tire and the fitness of the visitors beginning to tell. One of the moments of the half came with some great champagne skills in side the Bracknell 22, an over arm American football style pass from stalwart Dave Rosi was pin point from the touch line to the centre of the pitch followed by some more audacious handling and running to take the ball up the pitch with nearly every player involved. Unfortunately for both teams the half was marred when following a penalty to Bracknell 5m from the Shire Hall line lead to the Hall winger holding on to the ball and taking exception to the Bracknell players trying to get the ball to take a quick tap. His response was a flurry of punches making contact with Danny Batten, unfortunately this lead to some punches thrown in response and left the referee with little choice but to red card both players. This did not stop the flow of the game with additional tries from ‘Gobble’ and scrum half Simon Cole extending the lead in a match that Bracknell were no longer in danger of loosing.
In the closing the minutes the home team were able to grab a consolation try, and whilst it would have been easy to sit back and let that be the final word Bracknell put pressure on the resulting scrum from the re-start and just as the Shire Hall coach was heard to be saying ‘it’s the last try that counts’ centre James Dunn cantered off for the final try of the match. There remains much to work on, however, the quality of handling is improving with every match with confidence high and with the 4th team putting in a great performance at Marlow selection in the coming weeks is going to be difficult!!!