Soaring temperatures at Windsor to enter the world of contact

Bracknell v Richmond 1 - 2

Richmond kicked off and the first few minutes were a series of rucks and mauls that eventually resulted in a Bracknell line out. It was clear that we'd not practiced these as a bit of confusion arrose! After loosing the ball, Josh was put in a number of mean tackles, eventually driving Richmond into touch. The resulting throw-in went down the line deep in the Bracknell half when Richmond put in a high tackle. The penalty was met by strong Richmond defence until Ethan got the ball and ran the length of the field to score an excellent try in the corner with three Richmond players chasing on his heels. More strong tackling by Josh kept Bracknell ahead at the break.

The second half restarted and Richmond came out strong with lots of second phase ball coming their way. Although Bracknell defended well, they could not prevent Richmond driving over for a try. The restart led to a series of rucks with some great pick ups by Ethan and straight running from Owen. Richmond played very well and were very strong going forward; despite good Bracknell defence, Ellis picking the ball up close to our touch line and Ross trying a jinking run through the field, Richmond were soon back on our lines. The squad managed to keep the ball up as Richmond came over the line but unfortunately following the resulting scrum, Richmond were too strong in their line and got a fast try in the corner (would the TMO have seen if there was a foot in touch?) The restart lead to a series of colapsing mauls with Alex putting in a good tackle to prevent a break. The game finished with a driving maul with five Bracknell players moving forward albeit judge to be an infringement. A close game, but Bracknell were not firing an all cylinders

Bracknell v Worthing 3 - 1

In the first minute or so, no-one wanted to drive over or enter the ruck which led to the small, nippy Worthing winger picking up the ball and slipping through into the corner to score. This spurred the boys on, Cameron taking the ball from the restart and running hard and fast at them, he was only just held up by some unknown infringement awarded to Bracknell! The Bracknell penalty was passed to Owen who ran directly to the line to score with strength. The restart was met with fierce Bracknell tackling which led to a Worthing knock on - Cameron took the restart and another of his fast driving runs lead to Bracknell's second try. As Worthing restarted Ted set up a defensive maul that was driven by the pack until the referee awarded a scrum to Bracknell. From the scrum, Owen, playing scrum half, picked up the ball and ran at them again but was stopped short by the referee to end the half.

As Bracknell restarted, Ellis was taken out by a high swinging tackle but recovered to take the penalty and scoring in the corner. Worthing were starting to panic with confusion in their lines leading to another knock on. The Bracknell scrum was another good one with Owen taking the blind side run but the off load to Ted was judged to be forward. As play continued, we were judged to be off side but as Worthing decided to run the penalty backwards our pack maximised driving them back to within 5 meters of their own line. Ellis picked up a loose ball ran to the line but was unable to "place" the ball down the try was disallowed (Martin was heard to say "He'll be up in Court for that at the Isle of Wight"!) At the 5 metre scrum, Worthing won the ball but was driven into touch by Ted. Bracknell's line out was passed to Owen who scored in the corner. As the referee blew for full time the whole squad had a real positive air - the direct fast running and strong mauling really got the boys pumped up and ready to go again. A great win with much more drive in the maul - everyone played well.

Windsor v Bracknell 0 - 1

Bracknell kicked off and ran into strong defence, a bit of scrappy play ended with the game being stopped for a Windsor injury. The restart led to more scrappy play when Ted picked up and drove a loose ball. As James took the ball from the maul and cleverly passed the ball to Cameron flying down the wing to place the ball in the corner only to have the try disallowed because the Windsor coach running the line had seen a foot in touch. Obviously it was correct, but the surprise of the decision led to a little confusion in the resultant line out which ended up Bracknell conceding an offside foul. Windsor took the penalty well and ran the ball from their own 5 metre line to Bracknell's. Frenetic Bracknell defence (they do need more confidence to drive over the ruck!) resulted in Matthew taking a nasty bang on the shoulder eventually leading to Windsor knocking on and a scrum down. Owen took the ball down the blind side to once again finding that the sideline was crossed. The Windsor line out was strong with the ball moving fast but great tackling by Ellis, Cameron, Billy, James and Owen kept them at bay. A knock to Owen ended the half all square.

As Windsor started the second half, Alex picked up a loose ball and ran strong into hard Windsor tackling. In a tight phase of play, a fast attacking Bracknell maul led to another injury to a Windsor player. Owen once again made a great run from the scrum to go over to score a Bracknell try. Windsor were fired up following conceding, their run was met by Joshua crashing into a tackle that pushed them into touch in the corner. Bracknell then sustained a difficult period of play in which Windsor were camped out in our half, but resilient defence kept our local rivals away from the try line and a rewarding win.

Bracknell v Saracens 4 - 0

Saracens kicked off and there were several minutes of start and stop play with the ball passing between the teams, occasionally through some off-side play (on both sides)! As part of this scrappy play, Bracknell were judged to have taken the ball into touch just short of Sarries' try line. One of their zippy little players managed to break from the line-out to run back past the halfway line until they were themselves bundled into touch by Kyle. The largest maul of the game resulted from the lineout as Ellis took the ball into contact. With at least six players from each side were in the maul, Bracknell put the shove on and drove Saracens back about 5 metres. As it looked like the ball was about to go dead, the pack managed to feed the ball back only for Ted to peel off the back to sprint over for the first try unopposed ending the half.

Bracknell started the second half with their running pack coming back on, Ellis setting up another attacking maul. An unfortunate dropped ball 3 metres short of our second try lead to a swift pick-up by Saracens. As they made a break for it, they were almost instantly penalised for handing off. Unfortunately this penalty resulted in confusion in the Bracknell ranks and a wayward call caused the ball to be passed forward. As the Saracens scrum half lifted the ball from the scrum Owen was on him like a flash with the pack setting up another maul. Again the ball popped out on the Bracknell side for Ted to peel off once more to drive over the line. As Saracens restarted, Bracknell won the ball in a ruck but then were penalised for passing the ball directly off the ground. Saracens ran the penalty to the corner as Alex put in a very strong tackle to swing the attacker into touch. As the line out ball was won by Cameron he set off down the wing in an unstoppable run to score for Bracknell, real end-to-end stuff. Saracens restarted with a forward pass - scrum to Bracknell. Owen picked the ball, off loaded to Josh who made a lightening dash through the Saracens pack and when he was eventually held up he neatly passed to Ellis and onto James who cantered through the defence to score the fourth try of the game in the final play of the match.