Bracknell let Havant off the hook

By David Ryan

Bracknell Academy coach Martin Radford was relaxed having watched his outfit go down to one of Hampshire’s finest Colts teams by four tries to one, despite being the better side for much of the first hour.
“We’ve made big strides so far this season, we lost today due to minor mistakes at crucial times,” he said. “We still have stuff to work on defensively, but we can now compete with anything the National Plate or OBB Division Two throws at us. That was not so at the start of the season when we were shipping a couple of tries in the first 10 minutes of games.”
Even in a statistics dominated sport like rugby, the numbers don’t always tell the story. On the face of it, Bracknell were well beaten here - a sixth defeat in eight matches and the latest in a list of depressing scorelines. But they lost two second-half tries (14 points) to Havant breakouts, and shipped two more (12 points) in the final three minutes as Radford, seeing the game was gone at 8-17 down, emptied his bench to foster squad spirit.
What the numbers don’t show is that after three opening defeats in which these colts were, frankly, incompetent. Radford, Alan Leishman and Bracknell Academy’s coaching staff have moulded a team that can win, despite deficiencies in certain positions. It will all be weighed and measured in December when the league and cup programmes commence.
For now, Bracknell can say that they were unlucky not to get something from a display in which they pounded Havant for long sections of the first hour without overly troubling the scorer. Havant defended like Spartans, waited for their chances, and then took them all.
Bracknell posted their intent in the first minutes with a driving maul that trundled the more muscle-bound but less cohesive Havant back to their own try line. The visitors were on edge as they strayed offiside and No 10 Ben Radford slotted the penalty for 3-0.
Within 10 minutes Bracknell were 8-0 up after live-wire scrum-half Simon Haddad broke down the blindside and produced a fantastic offload which was surpassed by a brilliant take, almost off his boots laces, by burly back-row James Wright. Wright did all but score before popping a pass inside for the ever-willing Ben Pilgrim to touch down. Havant’s only response was a penalty on 13 minutes for offside which scrum-half Ed Durkin converted.
It was a half in which Havant’s crisp three-quarters threatened but never found the ball and space to execute, while their physically very impressive forward line became thoroughly rattled by an inability to boss proceedings and the total, unrelenting nuisance that was Bracknell’s man-of-the-match Oli Nixon.
Nixon spoilt everything, chucked himself into the meat grinder and came out scarred but looking for more. He was punched, raked, abused, then responded with a tackle on the left wing which was so immense it shook its subject right down to his studs before sending a seismic wave out under the pitch which drew groans from the crowd.
There were more groans after the break but for different reasons. Bracknell, defending a five-point lead, piled the pressure on. Nixon went over on 40 minutes but was held up, then Ben Radford, who had done well with the ball in hand, missed a simple penalty. Havant had survived eight minutes of defending in their own 22 without conceding. That, for Bracknell, was a sin in modern rugby terms, and it was punished as Havant centre Charlie Gardener popped up on the left then stepped inside three tacklers to score under the posts for Durkin to convert and give Havant a 10-8 lead.
Havant came under the cosh again and killed ruck after ruck under their own posts without sustaining a yellow card. And when Nixon finally broke the deadlock, wheeling out of a tackle on 50 minutes to score under the posts, the referee was ill placed to see it. In a game of crucial errors at key moments, the worst of all was not made by a player.
Eight minutes later, Gardiner inflicted more pain on Bracknell with a chip and chase off turnover ball. As the pill rebounded in-ball style off defenders, Havant full-back Luke Warrington swept in with a fly-hack which he gathered up to score under the post. Vitally, Durkin’s conversion for 8-17 left Bracknell needing two scores.
A mass transfusion of new blood left only the injured Matt Betts (ankle) and No 10 Steffan Rees (back) on the bench and it effectively ended the contest as Havant took advantage of a defence that looked not unlike Fraggle Rock. They scored late tries through Gardiner (again) and left wing Ryan Reay.
Bracknell were beaten but unbowed, Nixon had found ample support for all his mischief in Ollie Collis, Jonno Griffiths, Tom Case, Dean Axton, Wright and Pilgrim.
In the backs, skipper Matt Elsbury covered at full-back so well that Havant coach Mike Harris was surprised to hear he usually plays back-row; left winger Max Eastwood had his best game of the season; Ryan Noakes did well on the right wing and almost squeezed in for a try; Nick Cox showed quiet authority and the best kicking leg in the entire Bracknell squad; Mike Eastwell continued to break through the midfield channel but has also leant not to turn the ball over in contact; and Haddad was back to his majestic best.
“That first half was our best of the season and showed how far we’ve come,” added Radford. “The game turned on a disallowed try, one flakey pass, and a couple of poor attacking decisions. That’s how close we are.”
Havant’s Mike Harris praised Bracknell. “In the first half some of our forwards seemed to back away from a very committed Bracknell pack. Their aggression and energy were superb and we couldn’t match them. We did better after the break and I’m proud of the guts and determination our boys showed. But we still had to rely on breakaway scores and Bracknell could have kicked 12 points but kept going for the try, which showed great spirit.”

SCORERS: Radford (pen) 3-0, 3min; Pilgrim (try) 8-0, 10min; Durkin (pen) 8-3, 13min; Gardener (try) 8-8, 45min; Durkin (con) 8-10, 46min; Warrington (try) 58min, 8-15; Durkin (con) 59min, 8-17; Gardiner (try) 8-22, 68min; Gardener (con) 8-24; 68min; Reay (try) 70min; 8-29.