Derby Games Bring Out The Best In Bracknell

Dear All,

With seven wins from eight starts, our team has been building momentum nicely. The major facets of our game are working well, and as such training was about looking at how we could add an extra dimension of subtlety to our power-game by focussing on retention and continuity, working off the ball , reading the game and resourcing line-breaks to maximise ground won and retaining possession.

The current Camberley RFC and Bracknell RFC under 14’s have been fierce rivals since they first played each other as under 7’s. Over the years the results have gone both ways but no game between the two clubs has ever been less than highly competitive and Sunday’s A-team game was no different. Camberley are a typical large Surrey club - strong, well-coached, with good depth and are well represented in the various elite player programs. The game was going to be a very good validation of whether our complete performance against Basingstoke the week before was a window into the future or a false dawn!

Bracknell came out firing from the start and after we got a few of the more enthusiastic of the forwards out of the backline, we managed to get some width on the ball and Sam Clough put Sam Faulkner into space and over in the corner to finish off a very good backline move.

Camberley fought back hard with some committed forward driving by their loose forwards in particular, and some clever play from their fly half who kept our defence guessing for much of the game. The result was a large passage of play that was essentially trench warfare and fought between the 22’s with neither side giving an inch. It was a case of who was going to blink first, and after a sustained period of forward pressure, we took a quick tap penalty driven powerfully by second row Kyle Bruwer who went over the line for our second try, converted by Matthew Dalrymple.

The Camberley scrambled defence had been very effective for much of the game but the heavy underfoot conditions and the set pieces were sapping the energy from their legs, and as the big Bracknell pack dominated the scrums and one big ball-carrying forward after another came trundling down the inside channels, the Camberley defence found themselves a bit narrow giving our outside backs the space out wide that they live for. A quick release from Matthew Dalrymple at fly half and fullback JJ Paling was over in the corner bringing the half-time score to 17-0.

The game opened up a bit in the second half and the Bracknell backs found that they had a lot more space to work with and began to run freely with the ball but the Camberley defence worked tirelessly and we were closed down time and again until man of the match Sam Faulkner got the ball on the counter and threaded his way through the middle of the pitch for his second try, converted by Matthew Dalrymple.

Immediately, Camberley tightened up and played the game to their strengths, their strong ball-carrying loose-forwards and having made good yards up the middle with a series of strong carries, were rewarded for their efforts with a well-deserved, old-school forward try but with the game almost over and both teams out on their feet, Bracknell once again found themselves ball in hand with space on the outside. Quick hands and a textbook draw and pass by Ewan Castle saw JJ Paling in for his second try, and the final score of 29-5.

In the final analysis, this was a very good team effort from the Bracknell lads with everyone executing their role well. The forwards won us a lot of ball and created the momentum which committed opposition defenders and created space out wide, the inside backs controlled the game nicely, hitting slow ball up with runners and unleashing the outside backs when the ball was quick who, in turn, finished extremely effectively. From a coaching perspective, we were extremely pleased to see the work-ons that we had challenged the boys to bring to their game strongly in evidence on the pitch. Our set-pieces, recycling of the ball at the breakdown, our attacking and defensive systems were well executed and our work rate off the ball gave us an extra dimension in terms of continuity and support that was probably the difference between the two sides on the day.

The score line did not reflect the quality of the Camberley team and the massive effort that their boys put in for the full 60 minutes despite the tough going on a saturated surface and they deserve an enormous amount of credit for the effort and intensity that they brought to the game, despite missing key players. There is no question that the rivalry between the two clubs is as healthy and as real as it has ever been and we look forward to many more epic encounters over the seasons to come.

Our thanks go to the Camberley refs, both our refs having had recent heart-attacks, who stepped in and refereed both matches to such a high standard, and to the Camberley coaching staff for bringing your teams over to Lily Hill park on a grey and wet Sunday!

Our best wishes go to the Camberley man who went off with a head injury, whom we hope will make a full and speedy recovery.

Kind regards,
Andy