A wet and windy battle

The wet and windy weather greeted us and with it a damper performance than of late, although it would be quite right to note that as the weather worsened, the play did get brighter, and at times even pretty vibrant.

We knew that London Irish would present a tough test for the boys and so it proved immediately as strong running from the reds (yes, the London Irish Reds) saw their big centre run in from around halfway and then another shortly afterwards, both under the post to make the score 0-14 in the blink of an eye. This was despite a promising start when Bracknell had won the ball and attacked the Irish midfield strongly, before turning the ball over at a rather messy breakdown.

After Bracknell had stemmed the tide a little, a third try, was again scored under the posts when an attempted clearance went a little awry offering the Irish scrum-half a simple run in. 0-21 after just six minutes was not looking too healthy.

The wet conditions were not great for the recent brand of running rugby, but led by some strong burst from George and James, often in tandem, the forwards started making some inroads into the Irish defence, and even spent some time within the opposition 22 during the remainder of the half.

Unfortunately the half finished with two further tries conceded, albeit again from longer distance as Bracknell still tended to be careless at the breakdown often turning over ball that should have been their own. 0-33 at half time.

Second half was down the slope and with the forwards picking up where they left off, Bracknell started to push Irish back down the hill and after a couple of strong drives the ball was moved wide, and after Josh J and Theo making good ground Bracknell were awarded a scrum in the bottom right hand corner. Bracknell had strummed well for the whole game, and this one was no exception with quick, clean ball enabling Ed to pick up from the base and wriggle past two tacklers to open the account.

For much of the half, Bracknell worked very well against a stronger team, enjoying a lot of good territory, but again from a strong running attack, shipped a sixth try. With the second half a lot more equal, Bracknell managed their second try moving almost the length of the pitch. A scrum five was won and moved wide instead of opting for the safety first clearance kick, Josh W took the ball up, drawing several defenders around him before offloading to Theo on the defending 22m line. After slipping away from a couple of tackles, he galloped the remainder of the pitch for a fine try.

The remainder of the game saw continued Bracknell pressure, with the boys twice being held up over the line, and rather unfortunately seeing the last play of the game change from a try line defensive tackle from London Irish to their seventh try of the game, somewhat against the positive (from a Bracknell perspective) flow of the game.

So the game ended, despite the last opposition score, generally on a positive note for the boys, as they fought back very bravely and strongly against a tough opponent, and with a tiny bit more composure when pressing the Irish try line, would have finished the second half three tries to one up, rather than two tries apiece.