Bracknell U10’s Take 2nd at Maidenhead

The day got off to a tough start with Maidenhead drawn as the first opponents. It would be fair to say that Bracknell supporters were more than a little concerned that the famously slow-starting U10’s might struggle against a Maidenhead team which had already demonstrated their early season form by finishing joint winners of the previous week’s tournament at Windsor. But, wonder of wonders, Bracknell came flying out of the starting gate and more than matched their opponents in a closely fought game which saw the Green Peas emerge victorious by two tries to nil. The win was set up by some typically determined defence, of the kind we have come to expect from Bracknell, and it was telling that both tries came about after Maidenhead were dispossessed while mounting their own attacks. Having taken the lead following a try from Michael O’Donoghue, who dodged his way to the line from deep in his own half, the game was in the balance until the last few seconds when Max Hopley out sprinted the Maidenhead defence to secure victory. This was a great win against a very good side.

Full of confidence Bracknell now took on the might of Henley RFC, but quickly realised that they were not going to have things their own way. The team found themselves out-muscled up front, time and again losing turnover ball as Henley proved quicker and stronger around the rucks, mauls and scrums. It is to their credit that, despite the lack of good possession, the team lived with Henley and only lost by two scores to one, the Bracknell try coming, once again, courtesy of Michael O’Donoghue.

The following game against Marlow provided an opportunity for a much needed moral boosting win and Bracknell ran out comfortable winners by seven tries to none. Michael Dykes found himself on the score sheet three times, the third of which came after a superb jinking run, while Scott Harman scored two and Michael O’Donogue and Paul Studd got one each. The front four, or “Four Ws” as they will soon become known (William, Webb, William, Worm) found themselves in the ascendancy in this game, winning far more ball which the ‘Fancy Dans’ in the backline were able to exploit. Mackenzie Forth in particular put in lots of unselfish running, taking the hits, sucking in the defence and laying the ball back for others to take the glory.

This theme continued in the final group game against distant visitors, Brighton, as Bracknell crossed the line three times with no answer from their opponents before the break. For the second time of the day Paul Studd opened the scoring with Douglas McMurray and Harry Worm both finishing off great driving moves from the forwards. Quite what happened after half-time is a mystery. After seemingly coasting along in the first half, Bracknell suddenly hit the self destruct button with several poorly judged tackles and a lack of discipline, particularly handling in the rucks, costing them dear. In the end the team hung on and emerged as winners by three tries to one, but it was not perhaps their finest hour, and the last six minutes are probably best forgotten.

Still, at the end of the league stage the Green Peas had taken a well deserved second place, good enough to qualify for the final and an opportunity to overturn their earlier defeat against fellow finalists Henley.

As the ‘Invesco Perpetual’ sponsored Henley team would know only too well, ‘past performance is not a guide to future returns’, and the rematch with Bracknell was likely to be a tougher affair. Conversely, while the chance of a second bite at the Henley cherry was welcomed by Bracknell, they also knew they would need to improve their own performance if they were to have any chance of taking home the victors spoils.

Could the boys do it? In the first half neither team gave any quarter and the game was still in the balance at half time with the score tied at 0-0. Bracknell was certainly playing better this time around, and the Henley forwards were not dominating as they had done in the earlier fixture. A tactical switch, moving Paul Studd to prop, had helped to steady the scrum and neither team were making much headway. It was well into the second half when Henley finally broke Bracknell resistance to score the only try of the game and leave the field as deserved winners.

Overall there were many positive points about the boys play but still several things to work on when they are next at training. Just a hunch but this correspondent is guessing that there might be a fair amount of tackling and scrummaging practice in the coming weeks!

Well played everyone and we look forward to seeing continued progress at Reading this weekend.