Sometimes It Just Clicks!

Newbury RFC U14’s have been a bogey team for us for some time, and it’s fair to say that we have suffered somewhat at the hands of the West Berkshire outfit since our transition into the junior ranks as U13’s.

For some reason, the trip up the M4 appears to rob us of our confidence and weakens our resolve, as on two consecutive occasions on the windswept outer pitches at Newbury RFC, we have gone into the sheds at half-time ahead on the score-board only to have the game taken away from us by the time the final whistle has sounded. This Newbury team is a team that will just not stay on the canvas, superbly led by their captain Finlay Rossiter and packed with county players, and often winning games through sheer bloody-mindedness.

Since out last unsuccessful effort at Newbury, it has to be said that we have discovered some resolve of our own with Chobham, Basingstoke (twice), Twickenham and Reading Abbey suffering from the backlash, and us scoring 192 points with only 10 against since that dark day at Monks Lane in December. Our purple patch notwithstanding, nothing less than a comprehensive win against Newbury on the return leg would be sufficient to allow our wounded pride some respite.

Our plan on the day was simple, get the ball and keep it. Use our big forwards as a blunt instrument to establish forward momentum and as soon as their play-makers were safely at the bottom of a ruck, swing it wide and attack the outside channels. We weren’t going for anything fancy, just basic 15-man rugby, well executed and effective. The key to the plan was our defence – if we allowed their all-county backline time and space on the ball, we would pay the price early and end up chasing the game and unable to execute our game-plan. If we could close them down and force errors and turnovers on their side of the gain-line, we would earn the opportunities to attack from broken play and put our strike runners into overload situations.

As it happened, a match-defining moment presented itself in the first few minutes of the game, with Bracknell on attack, we spilled the ball which was pounced on by the Newbury and England Lambs captain Finlay Rossiter who offloaded to the equally bulky Joe Davis, whose considerable frame then set off up the try-line at some speed, shaking off defenders like droplets of rain off an umbrella as he went. All that remained between him and our try-line was 50 yards of Bracknell mud and our fullback JJ Paling. The crowd was silent – it was the bull against the matador – and it seemed like it was happening in slow motion. JJ closed down the space skilfully, Joe accepted the challenge and a mighty collision resulted. JJ was down injured with a very sore shoulder, but Joe, and most importantly, the ball was in touch – the crowd cheered, JJ was back up his on feet, mildly shaken (not stirred), and the game was on!

Our scrum was rock-solid and we secured 100% of our own ball throughout the match and took a good few against the head too. Our rucking, particular due to the efforts of Alexander Robinson, Kyle Bruwer, James Walford and Ben Torr, was effective from the start and we won quick ball without over-committing at the breakdown allowing our hard running forwards including Ben Clark, Fergus Hill and Tom Day to execute a series of hammers and nails off Matt and Jamie Brown with relentless determination, smashing time and time into the Newbury close defenders. Using our forwards as a platform, we were able to draw enough defenders in to get Newbury narrow on defence – well read by fly half Matt Dalrymple who flashed the ball wide through the hands for our first try by Sam Clough.

Our second came from a superb piece of game management by Matt, who spotted space behind the Newbury backs and popped the ball over the top for Winger Alex MacDonald to run onto, collect and burst his way down the touchline for a breath-taking try. Once again deep in Newbury’s half of the pitch, the forwards executed a powerful sustained series of moves of nine and ten to put loose-head big Fergus Hill over for a classic old-school Bracknell RFC try. The half-time whistle sounded and we were 17-0 ahead.

The problem was, we had been here before – was this to be another re-run of our personal version of the movie classic Groundhog Day?

The Newbury men started the second half like men possessed and as their forwards started winning ball for their backs, our defence came under the microscope. Our two centres Sam Faulkner and Sam Clough used their speed off the line to give the potent Newbury backs no time or space on the ball whatsoever and time and again snuffed out attacks before they even started and forcing errors with some fantastic tackling. Kane O’Leary was formidable in cover-defence and anything the centres missed was mown down by Kane’s trademark crunching of unsuspecting opposition players. It was after an error forced a turnover in just such a situation that right wing Toby Holland received the ball in space on our ten yard line and set off for the most unbelievable of runs, beating six or seven defenders and scoring our bonus point try under the posts against his old club .

It was lovely to see the sportsmanship shown by Finlay, previously his captain and team-mate but still his loyal friend, who was the first to congratulate Toby for the most incredible of rugby feats.

Newbury were not finished, however, and as our forwards, legs heavy and lungs burning from their Herculean efforts to that point, began looking forward to the final whistle, the lads in blue were able to begin executing their own game plan and through a multi-phase series of forward carries were able to put one of their big lads over for a well-earned forward try.

This spurred the Bracknell lads into one more massive effort and some clever game management got us back into the Newbury half, once again using our forwards to inch us closer and closer to the line before releasing our backs for one last sweeping run and Tim Cato went over on the wing on the stroke of full time.

The final score was 29-5, and we had achieved what we had had set out to achieve, but it had not been as easy as the score-board might indicate. The match itself was a colossal clash of wills with upwards to 20 county players on the pitch at any point in time and while we were successful this time, we know what Newbury are about and are under no illusion what will be waiting for us on our next trip up the M4.

Thanks must go to the Newbury coaches and parents who are excellent rugby folk and the Newbury players who gave it all on the pitch in a match characterised by good sportsmanship from start to finish and to premiership ref Ashley Rowden for his utterly sublime officiating of the match.