Bracknell V Windsor

Despite the torrential rain in Bracknell/Wokingham over Saturday night and Sunday morning, Windsor fared better and although quite wet the pitches were playable and the rain held off long enough for us to get some rugby. Neither club had enough players to play a C fixture and so after some training drills, we had two matches between the A and B teams.

Congratulations to the B team who had the better of their two encounters with a narrow 3-2 defeat in the first but then an emphatic 6-3 win in the second. Strong performances from Robbie and Liam up front were key to the win with some powerful running and tackling and two tries apiece. With Peter adding another good forwards try they bagged 5 out of the 8 tries on the day and continued to dominate the set-piece and breakdown which maybe shows where our main strength lies. The Windsor coach and referee commented that Bracknell won every single ruck in the first game! Over both games the boys showed great commitment to the cause with a lot of good tackling coming in to stop Windsor gaining any sustained momentum. Liam continues to show exceptional commitment - we'll have to start calling him the new "Crazy Horse" the way he throws himself into the contest. In the backs Toby scored a couple of very good tries and pulled off the tackle of the day, saving a certain Windsor try by taking their runner into touch right on the line. Declan added another try by running some excellent lines to unbalance the defender and score in the corner - he chose the right moment to straighten his line then move back outside again which was textbook stuff. It was also good to have Alec in the centre who strengthened our line with his running and tackling. Even missing some of our more experienced backs and incorporating some of the boys who have only just started playing, this team is really progressing well and gave one of their best ever performances in the second game. Every boy should be proud of the individual progress they made. They rightfully ended on a high and should all be looking forward to getting plenty of Rugby in a fortnight to consolidate their gains.

The A team shared a 2-2 draw in the first match against a strong running Windsor team, the highlight being a great team try that saw the ball go through hands in the backs and recycled quickly a couple of times to get the ball close to the try line where it was picked up and driven over by Luke. The second game saw some of the weakest tackling we've had this season allowing Windsor to run in 3 tries in the first half. The second half was an improvement and was shared 1 try each with strong rucking and clear signs of the players trying to move the ball into space but the wet and slippery conditions making the precision needed to put the opportunities away elusive. Overall we clearly missed the strength in the tackle of Paddy (at home nursing a cold and sore knee) and Bayley who had gone off with a twisted knee during the first match. It is also becoming more and more apparent that although we will continue to score the odd try through strong individual runs as was the case today from James and Jake, we will not beat strong opposition this way and need to continue to work on moving the ball through hands to exploit space. Plenty to work on next week in training.