Another tough day at Twickenham

Saturdays game on the "other" Twickenham pitch showed that a team that applies simple skills very consistently can still be successful against bigger opponents with more ball.

Of course we don't play international rugby and the All Blacks are the No1 team in the world at present, but they are not the biggest, nor the strongest, but they are very successful as they do all of the basics very, very well. It is a useful to bear this in mind as against a bigger, well drilled team at Twickenham RFC, the Bracknell B team had a tough morning, and after being up against the ropes after 40 minutes, came out of the game with their heads held high after a cracking rearguard action in the last 20.

After a good preparation for the match, the game started with the Twickenham team showing that they were packed full of strong runners, when their big winger outstripped the Bracknell defence for a try in the corner after only 2 minutes. It would be wrong to say that this was a wake-up call for Bracknell as they had started strongly, and the try was simply a case of good recycled ball being moved away from the breakdown very effectively.

Bracknell came back into the game, with some good driving work from the forwards, which led eventually to a scrum near the centre of the pitch. Good solid scrum-ball enabled Josh and Theo to make good ground towards the opposition 22m and when Theo was brought to ground, the forwards arrived en masse, and to great effect, enabling quick ball away – past the dummy runners – and very quick handling under pressure from Oscar, Joe and Max enabled us to put Tim on the outside of the defence (with Matt unused outside him) for a great team try in the corner.

The remainder of the first 20m period was mainly in defence, which held out almost to the break, when Twickenham managed a second try, to make in 5-10.

In the second period, Twickenham introduced some stronger runners and with their very effective offloading managed to score 4 tries despite some fantastic tackling, and very good breakdown work, where it is fair to say, Bracknell matched their sturdy opponents, and on the occasions that we managed a turnover, our running lines and passing in the three quarters was excellent, with again quick hands and straight running lines enabling a lengthy break out of defence at one point, with Matt bursting down the openside wing.

So at the second break, and with 20m still to play, the score was 5-34. With the Bracknell boys starting to look a little battered. However, the last third was a great display of battling on under pressure, and whilst we managed the odd foray into the Twickenham half, it is fair to say that most of the game was played with our backs to the wall. However, only two more tries were scored, with last of these greatly assisted by a very, very unfortunate bounce of the ball from a speculative kick, with the game ending 5-46.

It would be easy to reflect on the amount of missed tackles by Bracknell, which essentially made the score what it was, or the amount of times that the Bracknell ball-carrier was stripped of possession, but there were also plenty of positives to take forward not least the fact that the boys put in considerably more successful tackles than not throughout the 60 mins. Possibly, as many as we have made all season! Also, they definitely had the match of their opponents at the breakdown and even managed several maul turnovers through the game. Special mention should go to Ollie and Kyle who played at the coalface for the full game, and were an essential part of the strong forward effort, together with the tireless Billy, Josh and Adam. Tom, making his debut at Lock showed that he has a lot of promise and a great attitude, whilst Matt out on the wing stood out, making a string of cracking tackles throughout the game on all of the strong runners who came at him.

It was a tough game, against a physically strong, and very well organised A team, and it is true to say that all of the boys put their hearts into the game with some gusto, and to concede just the two tries in the last 20 minute period was an exceptional team effort.