Bracknell Academy 0 - Bracknell Old Boys 12

The annual ‘Old Boys’ game was played on a very wet pitch, much to the despair of the Academy who were planning on a fast open game, but it was not to be and the conditions certainly favoured the bigger and heavier pack of the ‘Old Boys’. The ‘Old Boys’ were mostly made up of the U21 side that had beaten Reading Abbey the previous week and so were full of confidence and quite organised in their playing patterns.

From the kick off the Academy found themselves under immediate pressure after having their ruck ball turned over on their 22 and after several sieges of the Academy try line their defence was finally breached by the Old Boys 2nd row Callum Russel crashing over to open the scoring from just 5 meters out. The subsequent conversion was missed which meant the score remained at 5-0.

The Academy continued to soak up pressure with all the play being in their half but they started to grow in confidence with the arrival of their captain, Tom Field who was delayed at a family christening that meant he missed the opening exchanges. Just before half time a good move from the ‘Old Boys’ centre partnership saw Conal Watterson draw in his opposite centre and winger to release Henry Williams on the wing to run in a very well worked try under the posts. This was converted to make the halftime score 12 -0.

Despite conceding a late try the Academy came out very strong in the second half with Winger Grant Coates injecting some pace and good running lines and his off load to Alfie Thomson needed all the speed of his opposite number Jordan Wenham with a last gasp tackle to prevent the Academy from scoring in the corner. As the second half progressed and in the poor conditions the handing errors increased for both sides but in the final twenty minutes the Academy fitness started to tell with several runs taking them into the ‘Old Boys’ final third, but unfortunately they couldn’t quite convert the pressure into points. They needed a little more composure in the last five meters because when the opportunities did arise they suffered from ‘white line fever’ and made poor choices.

Considering the conditions it was still a very exciting game with good skills on show from both sides but once again it was the ‘Old Boys’ who kept their unbeaten run in tact as the score remained 12-0 at the final whistle.

It was a great advert for the strength that the club has in its younger players and bodes well for the future of Bracknell RFC.