Second half show points the way (again)

This time though, the dynamic was slightly different, with a strong start to the game against tough opponents, a period of going distinctly “off the boil”, in almost all aspects of the game, before rousing themselves, again grabbing a very well worked try, and regaining a lot of the confidence and pride that was lacking in much of the first half.

Arriving at Grasshoppers well-appointed ground in the shadow of the Sky TV studios, we were met with new changing rooms and an excellent pitch (even if it wasn’t the one right in front of the bacon sandwich vendor).

The game started with Grasshoppers applying pressure both in the rucks and out wide, and with a new centre partnership of Josh W and Tom H it took a little time to settle. But with some very strong defence, our usual trustworthy scrummaging and some poor handling by Grasshoppers, the line was kept intact. In fact the team’s management of defence and clearing their lines was very effective. Unfortunately, it was the lottery that is the lineout that proved their initial undoing when our ball was lost enabling one of the many strong home runners to make holes in our defence and open the scoring.

For the remainder of the half, most of the play was in the defensive third, although there were some flickers of attacking through Matt, Tim and Theo, and one breakaway from Josh E, but all succumbed to good defence from the home team, and very effective work at the breakdowns.

So we turned around 33-0 down and facing a bit of (metaphorical) hill to climb. However, as has been the case for much of the season (Beaconsfield, London Irish, Twickenham spring to mind) the boys strapped on their climbing boots and headed upwards. The second half ended 3 tries to one, with the last try being an unfortunate breakaway, and the team can be rightly proud of the try they did score as well as the pressure exerted on Grasshoppers both in defence and in attack.

From half-time, instead of waiting for the heavy runners to come at them, the boys became more offensive in defence, and stopped a lot of the good opposition attacks, simply through their pressure, causing errors and turnovers across the park. Josh and Matt were very strong in the centres, and along with Theo enabled the boys to snuff out overlaps simply by the speed of defence. Tom H, who had switched back to the wing produced one fantastic try saving tackle in the corner, before unfortunately having to retire with a bang to the forehead.

We also started to get the benefit of the refs whistle at the breakdowns, and with our game plan of not letting the opposition settle, Josh, Joe and plenty of willing runners from the pack started punching holes in their defence. The try came after countless drives at the Grasshoppers line, which were notable for the speed of ball coming back on the Bracknell side, and a succession of penalties conceded through the pressure being applied by the work of the forwards in particular. Against a far heavier pack, this was quite an effort, and it was rewarded when yet another penalty was earned by the forwards, again taken quickly by Josh, and finished by Joe who beat a couple of defenders and crashed over the line.

After last weeks all round team try at the end of the Camberley game, this again was the result of focussing on quick recycling of the ball, applying simple skills (which we practice enough) effectively and efficiently, and clear decision making. During this 5-10 minutes of dominance, this is what separated the two teams, as it would be fair to say that in this period of the game, the home defence was very stretched and in some disarray.

Congratulations on a good debut from Charlie in the front row, we're sure that there's plenty more to come from him.

Our usual second half resurgence, and again the manner of our try are the clear positives from this game.