Our final fixture of the season was a friendly at Marlow, after cancellations from both Newbury and Rams. This was the ultimate test, as their whole match day team were U18s, and they had beaten us 20-12 at Lily Hill Park in Feb in a league match en route to winning the cup, so we had to be on top form to gain revenge.
We kicked off in the Marlow sunshine, and in the first minute produced a top quality move straight from the training ground, with quick ball from the breakdown provided by Olly B, and perfectly timed passes from Liam and the centres allowing Scott to fly down the wing and touch down the left corner. Liam’s conversion bounced off the upright but we were 0-5 ahead and had avoided our usual slow start.
Marlow struck back and we had to put in a long defensive shift. George got an unexplained yellow card, but we continued to be stuck deep in our half. By 25 minutes we had conceded 2 tries to trail 12-5, but then Marlow got a yellow card for a late hit on Liam, and that sparked us into life. Kyle broke through for what would have been a certain try under the posts, but the ref called us back for a penalty without playing any advantage but we ended the half camped in Marlow’s 22. A great lineout move followed, with Max peeling round the back of the lineout and running through on a textbook bullet move to level at 12-12, before another immaculate passing display saw the ball spin from right wing through multiple hands to the left wing for Scott to score. Liam nailed the conversion to make it 12-19 to us at half time. The 35 minute half had taken 52 minutes due to a number of injuries, but hopes were high for the second half.
The first 10 minutes of the second half were end to end, with both teams having chances. Bracknell Colts defended valiantly, and eventually stole the ball on a breakaway allowing Scott to score in the left corner to complete his hattrick. Liam converted in-off the posts, and we were 12-26 ahead, but Marlow immediately hit back after multiple phases of forward play to get back to 19-26. We secured a penalty in front of the posts which Liam nailed to stretch ahead to 19-29, before Scott added his 4th try – this time down the right wing - to go 19-34 ahead. Marlow received a red card for disputing the try and use of bad language, which gave more space that Sean exploited to score, with Louis adding the extras to move 19-41 ahead. Marlow finished the match with a late converted try to make the final score 26-41 to Bracknell, who delivered one of our strongest and most consistent performances of the season.
Two highlights of the day were first from Sean who somehow caught the ball behind him with one hand up in the air and then drove forward to set up our final second half try, and Max who managed a cheeky pop pass through his legs as we secured a turnover and successfully set up another running move.
This was a fitting send-off for our fantastic group of U18s, who have been a real credit to the Colts squad and BRFC as a whole. Today we had Matt H, Matt B, Liam, Max, Dan, Steven, Olly W, Charlie, George and Olly B starring for us, as well as Nick, Alfie and Matt D who weren’t available today. Good luck to all of you with the next steps of your education and careers, and hopefully you will all continue to enjoy rugby either at university or back with BRFC.

by Phil Wells