Reading B 0 Bracknell Green 10

Once again a tournament that the boys in the B team thoroughly enjoyed without getting quite the success maybe they deserved. Mind you in their group of five there was one other B team and 3 A's so they were always going to have a battle. In the first game they were really unlucky to lose to Aldershot and Fleet A's in the very final move where one of their few pieces of lost possession resulted in a try. A draw was always looking like a reasonable result in a hard fought and even game so a real shame when it slipped away. Everyone showed real determination to learn the lessons of the last couple of weeks and work to retain possession and put in the important tackles. And there was a definite improvement. there were very good runs fro the backs including notable breaks by James, Jamie and Toby

The next two games were against A teams who made the semi finals (Swindon) and the final (Abbey). Bracknell did not disappoint with very well contested matches that resulted in narrow losses. Again the forwards showed themselves to be some of the best around, bossing the opposing scrums and at the breakdowns winning the nearly all of their own ball and a significant number of their opponents. Good work all round the pitch from the props, Robbie, Liam, Andrew and Ben (in turns, not all together!) and Peter as hooker. It almost became expected to see the ball pop back on Bracknell's side time and again. Very competitive running from Henry, Jordan and Kameron resulted in a great try from Jordan against Swindon. In the end though the difference between winning and losing came down to a tendency for the backs to get sucked into the breakdown, leaving gaps out wide which the opponents exploited well with some good runners.

In the final match we were up against the Reading B's. Despite the disappointment of progress in the tournament having slipped away, the whole team went onto the pitch determined to get that morale boosting victory, and didn't they show it. A really good and dominant performance that produced two excellent tries without giving Reading a sniff of our try line. Henry opened the scoring with a very combative run through their forwards. This match also produced the move of the tournament. From conceding a scrum 10 metres from our own line, Bracknell gave an almighty shove and hooked the ball back against the head from Reading. From the resulting move the ball went back to Robert who weaved his way the full length of the pitch to score "under the posts" to the delight of the whole team and crowd.

So we're learning our lessons from each weeks matches and have improved a lot in retaining possession and tackling hard. Next thing is to keep forwards and backs concentrating on their own jobs so as not to give the opposition any chances from space out wide and the results will follow to make us all really proud. All in all though the B's are beginning to shape up very well and have the makings of a really good team that can challenge the A teams of most other clubs. Well done to the whole team from the dominant forwards to the increasingly dangerous looking backs. Watch out A's, the B's aren't far behind!