Rampant Bracknell give Newbury the Blues


A bleak season so far for Newbury, and Bracknell’s rampant Colts Academy made it a shade darker with a six-try pummelling that raises questions about which division in this season’s OBB League will be the stronger.
Oxford, Berks and Bucks Division-Two Bracknell systematically took their Division One rivals apart up front and constantly threatened through the backs, both out wide and up through the middle of a tiring Newbury defence that was hampered by a lack of substitutes.
Had it been a league encounter Bracknell would have sewn up the bonus point before half time. Livewire hooker James Steele opened the scoring after just five minutes, first pouncing when the ball spilled loose from a scrum on Newbury’s five-metre line, then popping up to ground in the corner off succeeding rucks.
Winger Blake Roberts had almost gone in at the same corner, only to lose his footing as he stepped inside the final defender. But dangerous breaks, from both centre Bruno Costa and front-row and skipper Will Lake, showed how vulnerable Newbury Blues were to direct running. Indeed the visitors were denied any forward momentum by a Bracknell side producing its performance of the season so far. Only the powerful running of giant centre Cameron Leathen offered the visitors any respite in the first 20 minutes.
Lock Marcus Dean popped up for the first of his two touchdowns to double the lead on 25 minutes after concerted pressure from Bracknell through a dozen phases of possession from both forwards and backs. Winger Roberts had had the chance to score but was foiled this time by a clothesline tackle which on another day could have produced a yellow card.
Former flanker Adam Finch, playing only his second game at full-back looked confident under the high ball and ran most of Newbury’s pressure relieving kicks back with interest but he showed a telling lack of ring craft when butchering a three-on-two on the half hour with a pass that was both mis-timed and misdirected.
A few minutes later scrum-half Lewis Franklin sniped off the side of a 10m scrum before shipping the pill to flanker Patipan Marshal to finish the move. Man-of-the-match Kieran Webber stepped up to notch the first of four successful conversions taking the lead to 17-0.
Newbury were down, out and begging for half-time when Lake threatened the line again before a wide pass found Roberts in space on the left. This time the luckless winger forget to take the ball with him as the line yawned at him like an unguarded chasm.
The visitors came out hard after the break, knowing that at 24-0 down they had to score next to have any chance of salvaging some pride. They almost did it too, the forwards nearly barreling over on the right side before a deft chip to the left corner from Joe Leadley almost put the winger in.
All meaningful resistance was ended, however, as Bracknell’s doughty defence turned the ball over in their own 22 and Marshal found Jake Pope coming up like a train. His pace got him clear and the clever angle of his running helped him skin the Newbury back-three for a long-range score under the posts, converted by Webber for 29-0.
Newbury did mount a spirited rearguard action with tries, on 54 minutes and 72 minutes respectively, from Ross Thompson and Josh Pearce either side of Bracknell’s sixth try from right wing Josh O’Rawe who ambled under the posts from a blind-side break off a scrum.
Bracknell Head Coach Tony Jell remained under the moon but was clearly satisfied. “We’re a work in progress but I was very pleased with the commitment and team spirit of the whole squad today. There were some fine individual performances but issues, such as ball retention in the contact area, still need work. We have our first competitive fixture of the season in two weeks’ time against Dursley RFC in the National Cup [kick-off 2pm, 14 Oct at Lily Hill Park] and that’s what we must work towards.”

SCORERS First half: Steele (try) 0-5, 5min; Dean (try) 10-0, 25min; Marshal (try) 15-0, 33min; Webber (con) 17-0, 34min; Lake (try) 22-0, 37min; Webber (con) 24-0, 38min.
Second half: Pop (try) 29-0, 50min; Webber (con) 31-0, 50min; Thompson (try) 31-5, (54min); Leadley (con) 31-7, 55min; O’Rawe (try) 36-7, 67min; Webber (con) 38-7, 68min; Pearce (try) 38-12, 72min.