A fresh autumnal afternoon delivered a 'try-fest' at Lily Hill Park, in a game where defence was overwhelmed by superb broken field running.

Bletchley arrived, bemoaning (in jest) their fixture secretary for arranging a friendly fixture 60 miles from home on the day of the World Cup semi-final. Perhaps this contributed to the arrival of only 11 Bletchley players from the expected contingent of 18! The entire Bletchley midfield (9, 10, 12 & 13) had failed to arrive.

With a large group of Bracknell players selected for the Berkshire fixture on Saturday, this was billed as a B fixture, which allowed Bracknell to provide a talented bunch of backs to fill the gaps in the Bletchley midfield, including Ally Walton who will undoubtedly be selected for the U18 South West Squad at 9. It is fair to say, Ally played an instrumental part in Bletchley's half time lead 7 - 31, and Bracknell's 2nd half recovery.

The early exchanges suggested an even contest, which resulted in a centre field 5m scrum when Bracknell knocked-on trying to run out of defence. Ally Walton, made the most of a huge open side on the right to waltz in with pace and good footwork. Bracknell responded well, in the their only well executed play in the 1st half, working upfield with structured phases, excellent support play and offloads, resulting in Josh Knight forcing his way over under the posts. Oli Radford converted and Bracknell led 7 - 5.

Another Ally Walton try outstripping the disorganised Bracknell defence breaking down the right, and a further try wide on the left gave Bletchley a much deserved 7 - 19 lead.

Two further Ally Walton breaks and chip aheads almost resulted in two more classy tries for the Bracknell / Bletchley 9, but for some desperate and outstanding cover defence from firstly Elliot Maddison and then Ben Hallaways who showed blistering pace to stay with Ally and secure the ball.

Bletchley then scored the try of the half, when Bracknell stand-ins Jacob Elliott and Callum Baker executed perfectly a 10 / 12 switch on the gain line to cut open the Bracknell defence. With much to do, Callum Baker used his pace and footwork to flat-foot the Bracknell full back to score under the posts. Bletchley led 7 - 31 following a further try from Michael Hardcastle staying in at 13 for Bletchley.

The 1st half had been a disappointment for Bracknell. The endeavour was never in question, and there were some good individual performances or snapshots of skill, but at times the tackling was below the required standard, the ball retention poor and the shape was lost, with the forward pack collecting 'on mass' at breakdowns competing for ball that had been lost. This 'bees around the honeypot' strategy left the defensive set-up fragmented, narrow and exploited by excellent broken field running. A re-boot was required at half time.

The Bracknell players who kindly featured so well for Bletchley, were exchanged for 4 new faces, who turned out for the opposition without question. At this point we should acknowledge the 9 players who filled Bletchley shirts without hesitation during this fixture. Well done boys, it was an honourable gesture and entirely in the spirit of rugby.

Dan Ap Dafydd, Bracknell Academy Head Coach outlined the Academy defensive structures, importance of ball retention, good contact skills, decision making and how multi-phased sustained attacks would result in points on the board.

The lads responded well, with 8 unanswered try's, many of which involved multiple phases of play, great lines of running, solid handling, support play, and well timed offloads. Elliott Madison (2), Jake Findley (2), Jacob Elliott, Adam Newman and Ally Walton scored the try's, with Jake Findley converting one try, and Sam Dunks converting two from wide on the left to complete the Bracknell Academy comeback and the final score line of 53 - 31.

A big thanks to the Bletchley players, coaches and management who made the long journey to Bracknell, it was much appreciated.