Colts 1XV
Matches
Sun 05 Mar 2017
Bracknell RFC
Colts 1XV
60
7
Reading Abbey Colts A
Colts produce most complete performance of the season

Colts produce most complete performance of the season

Real Hummers6 Mar 2017 - 13:18
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Bracknell U18 Colts 60 - 7 Reading Abbey U18 Colts. Match report by Martin Radford

This re-arranged U18's OBB Div 1 league fixture was in serious doubt after some persistent rain towards the end of the week, but in reality, and much to everyone's surprise the Lily Hill pitch was remarkably dry and provided sound footing for some silky and creative running from the home side back 3.

Bracknell's player retention at U18's has been excellent in recent years and with this come options in selecting a strong well balanced XV. By contrast, Reading Abbey have struggled and fielded a mixed XV who fought with great pride and scored 3 well constructed tries, but ultimately were undone by the illusiveness and pace of the Bracknell back 3.

So it was no surprise that 7 of the 10 Bracknell tries came from Callum Baker (3), Micheal Hardcastle (2) and Luke Fisher (2). In these lads, Bracknell have finishers - encouragingly they already have so much that can be difficult to coach into a player - real pace, illusive lines of running, the eye for a gap, fast feet to wrong foot defenders and strength to fend off tacklers, a combination of skills that will take them far in the senior teams next season.

But finishers need creators, and the creativity was provided by the Bracknell midfield who managed and distributed the ball with precision and variety throughout. Jack McGee's service was swift and accurate, Oli Radford and Kieran Brown, both highly competent 10's marshalled proceedings well and Patrick Fitzgerald was his usual pugnacious self. It was clear that keeping the plays simple and executing them well was the key to unlocking the Abbey defence. In particular, the use of the blindside winger, to add the extra man created space outside every time.

Where finishers need creators, creators need ball winners and that comes from the 'grunt' up front - the platform was provided by the Bracknell pack, who dominated at the set piece, in the loose and were destructive in the tackle. Scotty, the turnover king, was regal throughout and it was great to see once again Ben Hallaways flaming red bonnet charging upfield on his signature lung busting runs.

Forward play is all about doing the hard yards, and requires work rate to clear rucks, disrupt the oppositions ball, complete tackles and carry hard. Liam Collins, Sam Dunks, James Roberts, Jamie Johnson, Harry Baker, Alec Bromley all put in a real shift - they are Shire Horses of this group, ploughing furrows through the opposition for the creators to plant the seed, before the thoroughbreds reap the harvest!

It was also great to see Josh Knight, our very own battle hardened war horse, return from a few weeks off, during his spells on the paddock he was at his abrasive, combative and highly talented self, snapping and snarling before scoring a typically confident try from 30 meters out skittling defenders along the way for fun.

The bench came on during the 2nd period and Tom Smith, Ben Stevens, Danny Ramsey, Jack Whitelaw and Jacob Clark all had an impact and added real value to the game - this was a real squad effort today.

Reading Abbey, whilst well beaten did have a couple of spells of pressure, choosing a very direct route to the line - this strategy was met by stout defence but culminated in two well taken tries - Abbeys third try was a slightly controversial penalty try, awarded for not returning 10 meters, thankful it didn't impact the result.

The other Bracknell scorers on the day were San Dunks and Harry Baker, with Oli Radford converting 5.

Of course there were work-ons and areas for improvement but this was a well structured victory, were the home team realised early on where their strength and rapier edge lay - the space outside was exploited with great flair and precision. This was true XV man performance - the ball winners, creators and finishers working in unison - one of the teams most complete performances of the season, well done boys.

GoBRFC

Match details

Match date

Sun 05 Mar 2017

Kickoff

14:00
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