We took a mixed A&B squad of 20 across to Wallingford for a friendly fixture - our full squad of nearly 40 was reduced by injuries and half term absences. This meant we had a few players in new positions, but optimism was high as we kicked off.
Wallingford spent the first 5 minutes camped in our 22 and we twice held them up over the line. This epic defensive effort calmed our nerves and we settled into some rhythm, and it was still 0-0 after 15 mins. David was then given a baffling yellow card with no warning for not rolling away, which allowed Wallingford space to score out wide, and go 5-0 up. Some strong attacking phases resulted in a penalty for Liam, before Wallingford broke away against the run of play to go 12-3 up. We finished the first half the strongest, camped in their half, and some great forward drives resulted in Lewis C being pushed over and we went in at half time 12-10 down.
The second half was a tale of numerous minor injuries to our players, resulting in several rotations and positional changes which impacted our continuity and made it difficult to challenge. Wallingford scored 4 more tries, and ran out 36-10 victors, but to our great credit we nearly scored on several occasions and continued to contest to the final whistle and we put in a massive defensive shift against some very large Wallingford Colts. The coaches' champagne moment of the day came in the last few minutes when Matteo sprinted after one of our clearing kicks, leapt at full speed to take the ball mid-air, and continued deep into the Wallingford half before being hauled down and tackled.
We play Wallingford at BRFC HQ in 3 weeks' time so will definitely be seeking to reverse this result, and then there will be an OBB league match as well later in the season. #GOBRFC!

by Phil Wells