Avondale U18 5 - 10 Bracknell U18

The reward for Bracknell U18's Academy considerable efforts today, was progression in to the 4th round of the National U18 Colts Cup, an unprecedented event in the recent history of Bracknell Colts. They now have the opportunity to mirror the success previous Academy sides have had in the Plate competition, but now in the main draw.

Travelling to Avondale RFC, an archetypal and thoroughly welcoming grassroots rugby club, Bracknell entered the unknown, with little or no knowledge of the opposition. The message was therefore, trust your core skills, focus on the key areas of defence & the contact area, and play with high intensity and commitment.

This was a truly tenacious affair, with both sides high in passion, pace and power. The collisions were immense and defensive lines solid nullifying attacks at both ends of the pitch. Both sides also had to contend with a rather lax attitude to the offside line and entering a contact area through the gate! However, the vocal Bracknell supports thought their team, perhaps suffered the greatest in the contact situations, which frustrated their continuity in the well structured attacking play produced throughout the game.

Avondale kicked off and had the best of the early exchanges, with some hard direct running, challenging a well organised and disciplined Bracknell defensive line. Ultimately, the Bracknell defence won these exchanges with Avondale either forced to chip and chase or make an error which relieved the pressure on the Bracknell line. By contrast, Bracknell looked by far the better side going forward, and produced some well structured multi-phased rugby, and it was one of these attacks that created the first score. Breaking blind from 30 meters out, Ally Walton found a gap and exchanged passes with Jake Findley to score close to the posts. Jake Findley converted well, and Bracknell led 0-7.

The game continued in the same vain with the Bracknell defence snuffing out the direct attacks from Avondale, Patrick Fitzgerald excelling and leading from the front, but everyone of the Bracknell team/squad contributed in an immense defensive display.

Avondale managed one line break through a fractured Bracknell line, but the cover defence was there to close this opportunity. Ultimately, Bracknell moved back up field and gained the last scoring opportunity of the half with a penalty from 35 meters in front of the sticks. Jake Findley struck the ball well, and secured the 3 points with a little help from the post. Bracknell led 0-10 at half time, and what an intense half that had been, full of commitment from both sides.

The second half was very much the same as the first. Bracknell had most of the go forward, but these attacks were curtailed by too many infringements, some of which were a little hard to understand, but never questioned. They also suffered from too many unforced areas, in particular ball retention in the contact area. Bracknell were not to score again, had they done so the result would not have been in doubt. However, this failure to convert chances in to points led to a extremely anxious last 10 minutes, especially following an exception individual try by the Avondale winger. Bracknell were attacking but again lost the ball in contact on the Avondale 22, this turnover led to the Avondale winger to attack the space outside, and out strip the cover defence with real pace and quick feet, racing to the posts the desperate chase back forced the touchdown wider out and a more difficult conversion than perhaps it should have been. The conversion was missed and Bracknell now had a 5 point lead to defend for the final 3 minutes, and ultimately with 14 men following a very doubtful yellow card.

This 3 minutes extended in to 9 minutes, but Bracknell held on to progress to the next round with a memorable 5-10 victory.

This was the day that Bracknell's defence could not be breached, and whilst their attacking structure created opportunities, impatience and forcing passes or offloads at critical points resulted in this chance remaining incomplete. Every game is a learning experience, and will always form an essential part of individual and team development going forward. The big lessons were, look after the ball and don't try and force the game. Playing 4 plus structured phases in the final 3rd will generally result in scores at this level, so patience in attack and ball retention is essential. Also, game management to close out a tight game, is an art, and that will come the more the team is exposed to these tight games. But defensively, this was as complete a performance as you are going to get.

Colts rugby is now a great watch when played with this pace, power, intensity and with total commitment. Both sides should take a great deal of credit today, there were plenty of scintillating skills on show, bodies were put on the line, this was undoubtedly a close and well contested encounter, and thoroughly entertaining throughout. Kieran Brown was awarded Man of the Match, justifying his selection in the starting XV, all 22 played their part, as did those who didn't make the squad. The competitive nature of the current Academy and the competition for places in the match day 22 is fantastic is keeping everyone honest, and working hard to be part of this journey. Well done to everyone involved, we are looking at the future of the club, so the future is looking bright.

Finally, a big thanks to the young referee who maintained control of a highly passionate and fast paced game, and to the hospitality of Avondale RFC it was a pleasure to experience a proper rugby club in lovely surroundings. The pint 'Bob' also went down well...!