Academy win at Braywick Road

Still smarting after defeat to Chinnor in their last league fixture, Bracknell arrived at Braywick Road for a game where a win would keep them in contention, a loss perhaps cutting them adrift. Bracknell were in buoyant mood after a hard fought but high quality win in the National Cup at Keynsham last week - the starting XV was broadly the same, with the Sam Dunks replacing the injured Ben Hallaways in the back row - Sam was to have a fine game, that secured the man of the match accolade.

Fixtures with Maidenhead are always close encounters, of contrasting styles, and highly engaging - this was to be no different - it was a classic, of high quality and played at breakneck speed - two fully committed teams going hammer and tongs at each other for 70 minutes.

The opening exchanges set the tone for the day - Bracknell's patient structured phases making ground with their big forwards prominent, Maids more fluid with ball in hand looking to challenge the wider channels. First blood went to Bracknell, through a well struck Oli Radford penalty, when the Maids midfield encroached.

Both sides had pace to burn out wide, and all four flying wingers saw lots of the ball - this illustrated the quality and intent of both sides to play an expansive game, but perhaps the most telling feature was the oppressive nature of the Bracknell defence - the line speed was impressive, the midfield practically lived in the Maids pockets they were up so quick - this claustrophobic line speed lead to two intercepts from the ever impressive Patrick Fitzgerald, but also caught the eye of the referee on a number of occasions, which was almost definitive later in the game.

Maids levelled the score on 27 minutes with a penalty for holding on, and the score remained 3-3 until the half time whistle - a welcome break for all involved and time for the large and vocal crowd to catch a breath.

Cool heads are required in high intensity spectacles like this, and also variety to change the point of attack to keep the opposition guessing and gain territory - in this respect there was a great deal of maturity shown by both sets of half backs who distributed well, but kicked impressively at the right time.

An early penalty for off-side in the Bracknell midfield gave Maids the lead for the first time, and this was swiftly followed by another to extend the home sides lead to 9-3 - this looked ominous with the quality of defensive displays from both teams - the try line looking unlikely to be breached.

However the Bracknell forwards engaged another gear and slowly turned the screw, providing opportunity for their slick backs to run hard and fast out wide - on a number of occasions these hard running lines drew outside defenders to the ball carrier - overlaps were created - but the final pass was missing, one for the training paddock. Whilst the Bracknell pack were taking control, the Maids fluid and pacy backs remained highly dangerous - especially the rangy, but immensely strong 14, as the game entered the final quarter he became the go to man.

But now the pressure was beginning to tell - another offside, wide on the right gave Oli Radford the opportunity to reduce the arrears - the ball was struck true and Maids now led 9-6.

Bracknell continued to pressure, Maids to counter. Bracknell chose to kick an awarded penalty to touch, which narrowly missed - had the opportunity to score the winner gone? Not at all, the composure remained, and the Bracknell attacks continued, halted temporarily by Maids pressure releasing kicking game.

With the clock ticking down, Bracknell battered the gain line, when a flat pass put the irrepressible Josh Knight in to the heart of the Maids midfield - there was only to be one winner - he charged through, stepped beyond the cover defence and celebrated what was going to be a match defining score - unfortunately the celebration was a tad premature and a tackle from behind held him up over the line. As is his nature, Josh dusted himself down and got straight back into the action and it was from another of his excellent and accurate line outs that Bracknell worked an opportunity, this time Tom Furmedge made no mistake bulldozing through the Maids tacklers as is his style - Bracknell led 9-11 with the now critical conversion to follow - Oli stepped up and calmly dissected the uprights - Maids needed a five pointer - this was not to be as Bracknell closed out the final 5 minutes, again with some maturity.

This was a game that could have gone either way, but ultimately the directness of the Bracknell forwards and the backs line speed made the difference - it was an impressive display from both teams, and both sets of coaches can be extremely proud of their respective teams performance, this was a superb advert for youth rugby from the two best teams in this league - the return fixture is now highly anticipated.

GoBRFC!