Bracknell come second down the hill

With the mini-rugby festivals of yesteryear to mind, we returned to Guildfordians for the first game of the season to find that the pitch was no flatter than memory suggested. Those of us with recollections of playing the game in the Mendips, the moors and the Cotswolds it wasn’t too bad, but this was the home counties, so most unusual – and ultimately had a considerable effect on the game. Evidenced, not least by the fact that across the two games (A’s and B’s), all ten tries were scored at one end. The bottom end.
So this was a challenging game against a strong Guildfordians outfit, and the Bracknell team gave first games to Frazer, Toby, Oakley and Sam, and in not entirely familiar positions they all came up with fine first showings.

Playing down the slope, Bracknell started slowly, and it was 20mins before their play started to come together, perhaps not surprisingly given the new faces and formations, particularly in the backs. Unfortunately the forwards, who should have been far more familiar with each other began with a lack of attention at the breakdowns and allowed the home team far too much opportunity to spoil the Bracknell ball.

There were however some highlights during this period, with Lewis particularly strong with his offensive defence, and good bursts with the ball, from both Frazer and Matt B. As the half ticked on though, Guildfordians, knowing what the sloping effect of their pitch would be, became more and more confident as a combination of their dogged defence and some loose play from Bracknell keeping the game scoreless.

It was somewhat of a relief then that the boys grabbed a score just before half time. From a scrum on half way, Joe broke blind and grubbered the ball on for Matt to chase, which he did well, putting great pressure on to the Guildfordians full back, and held him long enough for the cavalry to arrive, charging down the hill and increasing the pressure on the panicking defence. Under this pressure to clear their lines a loose pass was snatched out of the air by the charging Lewis, who burst into the home 22. He was held by the last defender but found the onrushing Josh J on his shoulder , to take the offload and burst to the line. Josh then added the 2 pointer to his own try, as the ref called for half time.

The second half saw a lot of defending as the home side, presumably expecting a far easier 30 minutes of rugby came barrelling down the slope, and soon the scores were level at 7 apiece. Fortunately the Bracknell boys has awoken from their initial slumber and attacked the second half with great gusto, far more precision and some very effective defensive work with Matt, Toby, Adam and Lewis particularly prominent, and Tim fielding everything that was kicked his way very efficiently. Despite the geology, and unlike in the first half the climbing team (Bracknell) did threaten the try- line at the summit on a number of occasions, with several bursts from the forwards and Ryan in particular. As the game ticked away, the downhill team gained some momentum with a succession of penalties and into the last minute, this eventually led to the winning try out in the corner, and resultant final whistle.

In retrospect, the match was effectively lost in the first 20mins (which was scoreless) as a combination of rustiness both in execution and decision making, out wide and in the forwards, enabled Guildfordians to keep their try line intact.

Despite the result, it was a very promising start to the season, especially considering the introduction of the new team-members, and a few players in new positions.