Season Proper Get Off to winning Start

Yesterday saw our first full A and B matches against local opposition.

The A's went first and in a demonstration of quite outstanding attacking style put so many tries past Windsor A's that we all lost count. Needless to say that by the end of the 40 minutes all the spectators felt really sorry for the Windsor lads who keep going through the hail of tries.

In the following B's fixture, Windsor put up more resistance. Both teams included many players new to rugby. Bracknell kicked off with the advantage of the pitch 3 slope and were quickly into their stride. Just like Hungerford, last week, the forwards again dominated the breakdowns and set pieces, but this time the half backs were able to marshal the attacking line and we were able to get the ball out wide more quickly. In the first half, Rhys Elliot, Anthony Maillet and Oscar Stahl were able to run in tries, all scored wide, after concerted pressure from our forwards had dragged in Windsor's defence.

During the first half, Bracknell's defensive work was, also, much improved over the previous week. Tackles were made (more often to ground) and the ball was more often rucked back to the scrum half. The biggest difference came in resetting the defensive line. However, Windsor were able to score a single breakaway try, against the run of play.

The first half ended with Bracknell driving over from a 5 metre free kick, but were held up by dogged Windsor defence.

Half time score : 15 -5

During the second half the impact of the slope began to tell on the Bracknell Forwards. Their domination at the breakdown and defensive line waned a bit, as they tiered. The lighter Windsor backs were able to get cleaner ball from the breakdown and ran in two good solo tries to level the score.

Bracknell again dug deep , securing the ball from the restart, they moved it slowly up the pitch, through multiple forward phases, to within 8 metres of the Windsor try line. From a quick recycle Ollie Wakely, playing at No. 8, was able to run onto the short pop pass and break through the Windsor defence to score the winning try.

Overall a much improved team effort. Again, much to work on but the team is moving in the right direction.

Final Score : 20 -15

Bracknell Man of the Match : Patrick Phelan