Bracknell stung by 10 mad minutes

A rebuilt Bracknell Academy side showed great spirit to hold their illustrious hosts at bay for more than 40 minutes of this National Cup tie, but hopes of a shock result evaporated in a gruesome second-half spell in which Wasps stung them three times in 10 minutes. It may take some while for the swelling to go down.
Plucky Bracknell had to overcome a disastrous start in which Wasps full-back Dylan Demange crossed twice in the left corner in the first eight minutes to give the home side a 10-0 lead. But to call the tackling in Bracknell’s three-quarter line “powder-puff” would be to insult all make-up artists everywhere.
Every alarm and whistle Bracknell had would have been sounding off as Wasps centre Parker Gilbert sauntered through a midfield gap from Bracknell’s kick off and set up the first of Demange’s hat-trick with barely 45 seconds on the clock. When Demange crossed again, as Wasps found men over off ball won from a scrum five metres out, the Bracknell boys were looking down the wrong end of a 50-point stuffing.
Then something happened which raised both coach Martin Radford’s morale and quite a few eyebrows. Bracknell’s forwards clawed a foothold, first equaling and then besting the Wasps pack at both set-piece and breakdown. Then, though still out-gunned in the backs with the exception of man-of-the-match Nathan Mannering, Radford’s team showed grit.
Matt Elsbury grounded in the Wasps’ left corner on 16 minutes, only for the referee to miss the touchdown, then Oli Collis went over off a line-out and driving maul to bring Bracknell back to 10-5 on 23 minutes. Stand-off Ben Radford missed the conversion but made amends four minutes later as he coolly slotted a penalty from the 10-metre line to salvage a remarkable 10-8 half-time scoreline.
Wasps coach Gordon Kennedy was fuming at being sucked into a tight forward battle when there were clearly points to be scored out wide, but when his side’s second-half breakthrough came on 40 minutes it owed more to the ridiculous than to the sublime.
Wasps, awarded a penalty in front of the posts, gave the ball to No 10 Alex Hodgkinson. He took just enough time over his spot kick for Bracknell lock James Wright to go temporarily insane and, as Hodgkinson moved to slot the three points, Wright, having convinced himself he was facing a conversion attempt, charged down the penalty.
Much confusion, recrimination, and the words “country” and “bumpkin” followed, but while Bracknell froze Wasps restarted with a quick tap penalty 10 metres out and an easy score for flanker Oisin Patterson on the left for 15-8.
Another quick penalty for an infringement at the kick-off saw Wasps burst through the middle again as Gilbert in particular exposed Bracknell’s weak midfield defence. Demange went over under the posts to complete his hat-trick and set up Hodgkinson for the first conversion success of the day. Kelwin Miles notched a fifth try for Wasps on 52 minutes with Hodgkinson converting for 29-8.
So, Bracknell shipped 19 points in 10 mad minutes. Enough to lose any game.
Some players lost focus and blamed an inexperienced referee, others chose to verbally abuse opponents who had been tetchy throughout. And there was fresh controversy when Patterson notched his second, Wasps’ sixth, and the game’s final try on 63 minutes with some Bracknell players insisting the flanker had been held up over the line.
Coach Radford has plenty of work to do but was pleased by the players’ overall attitude. “They showed plenty of heart and desire,” he said. “This was this group’s first competitive game together and I was very pleased with the way they started to gel. We made a few poor decisions on dictating the game’s structure but we can work on those.”
Wasps coach Kennedy added: “It was a patchy first outing. We got drawn in by Bracknell’s heavy, combative pack and gave too many penalties away.” David Ryan

SCORERS: Demange (try) 5-0, 1min; Demange (try) 10-0, 8min; Collis (try) 10-5, 23min; Radford (pen) 10-8, 27min; Patterson (try) 15-8, 42min; Demange (try) 20-8, 43min; Hodgkinson (con) 22-8, 43min; Miles (try) 27-8, 52min; Hodgkinson (con) 29-8, 53min; Patterson (try) 34-8, 63min; Hodgkinson (con) 36-8, 63min.