Our second league match of the season was at home v Buckingham, following on from our previous league walkover win 2 weeks ago. Their previous results had not been published so we had no idea of current form, but historically they are a strong club so we knew we had to be on top form.
We kicked off playing uphill on Pitch 1 at Lily Hill Park, and applied early pressure. We secured a great turnover, span the ball through hands to Harrison on the right wing, and scored our first try of the day in the corner. Fin added the extras so it was 7-0 after only 3 minutes. Bracknell continued to dominate, Will took a quick penalty, passed out the back of his hand to Harrison who chipped over the defence towards the line but the ref missed the deliberate block by their winger off the ball which prevented his chase and inevitable score. Shortly after, Louis played a divine chip over their defence with Harrison almost gathering on the line, but a cruel bounce meant it was knocked on.
We continued to pressure their defence, but then a sliced cross-field kick gifted Buckingham the ball with space to run at our defence, and their winger broke down the left wing and scored under the posts, completely against the run of play, and suddenly it was back to 7-7. Bracknell quickly hit back with some great phases of forward play, resulting in a great driving maul from which Ali dived over to score. Fin couldn't quite nail the conversion but we were 12-7 to the good. Buckingham then stole a breakaway and looked odds on to score, but were only stopped by Oski making a last-ditch try-saving tackle deep in our 22. That courageous effort ended his match through injury so Ethan came on as sub, and then quick thinking by all of our backs span the ball down the line, Scott broke down the left wing and popped the ball to Will to score in the left corner, some 90m from where Oski had made his tackle. Fin nailed a great conversion to make it 19-7.
Immediately from the restart, we ran some quick interplay moves in the middle of the pitch, and a delightful pop pass to Thomas at full speed was enough to cut open the Buckingham defence, and allow a score under the posts which Fin converted again. Half time was approaching, we were 26-7 up, but Buckingham camped in our 22 for the last minutes of the half. Some solid defence closed out the half, and we had played some of our best rugby of the season to date. Buckingham had also had a yellow card during the first half for repeated penalty offences, which definitely helped our dominance.
Early in the second half we secured a penalty in front of the posts, which Fin took to take us to 29-7 ahead. After another 10 minutes of even play from both sides, Buckingham eventually scored in the left corner but couldn't convert so it was 29-12 to us. We took a deep restart kick into the Buckingham 22, their clearing kick was weak and went straight to Fin, who put on the burners and went round the Buckingham defence on the left wing and scored under the posts. He converted to make it 36-12, and that was effectively game over. To their immense credit, particularly given they were playing uphill in the second half, Buckingham scored with the final play of the match in the left corner, making the final score 36-17 to Bracknell.
All the Colts deserve massive credit for an excellent performance against a big strong Buckingham Colts team who probably thought they would dominate the strength battle. Our quick tap and go penalties caused real problems for them, and our driving mauls and aggressive rucking were a real step up from some previous matches. A special mention for the subs who all made sure that the intensity and quality didn't drop when they came on, and also to our other squad members who helped with the warmup and provided very vocal support from the sidelines. Finally, a massive thank you to our amazing supporters today - parents, friends and loads of other club representatives - the noise was fantastic, the beer was flowing, the sun shining, and it undoubtedly helped add to the atmosphere on Fortress Pitch One!

by Phil Wells