Triangular fixture with Staines and Wasps

With numbers depleted due to half term, we took 22 boys to a triangular fixture at Staines with games against the home team and the other visitors, Wasps. Staines were one player short of two teams and asked to borrow one of our players, Henry Marshall volunteered and played two games for Staines and was awarded their player of the day!

Bracknell A team played Wasps A first and after a slow start played well enough in the second half to win 2-0, with tries from Luke and Callum (in his first A team game). The second game against Staines A was a fiercely contested match with Staines A having 2 or 3 very powerful runners who needed to be brought down by committed and accurate tackling. Fortunately the team was up to the job and with Paddy, Lewis and another A team debutant, Alec to the fore, kept them out for most of the game. We also recycled the ball well and managed to score 3 tries from Lewis (2) and Luke. Towards the end it seemed that we were going to concede a try to a particularly strong run that got to within a few yards of our try line only for the player to be scythed down by a technically perfect tackle around the legs by Jordan R to keep the opposition scoreless for another week. For this effort Jordan was awarded A team player of the day.

The B team also won both their games, 4-2 against Wasps B and 3-2 against Staines B (despite Henry M’s best efforts in opposition!). The tackling was again committed with Andrew, Robert and Dylan showing good form. All the forwards played well with good strong driving in the loose and Robbie made one surging break almost to the try line where he was brought down for Dan who was supporting well to score the try. The star of the day was Jordan W who scored 4 tries with some very strong running. Other try scorers were Henry P and Tom.

Another successful outing, with very encouraging progress from the B team who played with much more teamwork this week. All the boys played well and with a bit more discipline at the clear out after a tackle and a bit more physicality from the bigger boys will develop into a very good team. The A team's record of conceding only 2 tries in 11 games now this season speaks volumes for their defensive efforts. We now need to work on making better use of the width of the pitch and in particular passing the ball into space rather than cutting back into traffic that we often still do. All the boys deserve great credit for their attitude and commitment and deserve their current success!