Reeds Minis Festival

The first game was against Richmond. A nervous start, it was obvious that the boys had not played competitively since the Isle of White. Bracknell opened the scoring with a try from Elliot. Richmond came back almost immediately with a try of their own. Bracknell scored a second through Tom. Both sides conceded a number of turn over through knock on’s or forward passes until just before half time Richmond scored an equaliser. The second half saw Richmond take the lead from the start. Bracknell replied with a second try from Elliot. Some unusual poor handling and rusty tagging by Bracknell saw Richmond score two more tries taking the score to 4-3. Bracknell responded with two more tries from Lawrence, and Richmond replied with one more. The final score 6-5 to Richmond.
The second game saw Bracknell play the hosts Reed. A very strong team, they had obviously been prepared well for their own festival. In the first half Reed managed to score four tries to a single try by Aden. The second half saw a better response from Bracknell who managed to score two tries, one each from Jed and Spencer, with only one more from Reed. But the damage had been done in the first half and the final score was 5-3 to Reed.
The third and last game in the Pool saw the boys play Chobham. A tough game it saw the boys step up a gear and play the sort of rugby we had to become use to last year. The first half ended in a 2-2 draw with tries from Aden and Jed. The second half saw Bracknell take control with some lovely running and passing, tries each from Tom and Jed and two from Aden. Chobham in response only managed to score two. Final score 6-4 to Bracknell. A far better display from the boys, it took two games to blow away the cobwebs and put them into the plate competition.
With the sun shining the first knock out match was against Farnham. A dominant Bracknell team put together some great running and passing moves, but the biggest difference was the tagging, suddenly the boys were on fire and achieved a number of turn overs. The first half saw Bracknell score 5 tries to Farnham’s 1. (Sam 2, Elliot, Toby and Tom one each). The second half saw Elliot score the first try. Then possibly feeling a little too confident Bracknell relaxed and allowed Farnham to come back with 4 fast tries. Aden then scored for Bracknell as did Oliver, Farnham scoring at the whistle. Final score 8-6 to Bracknell.
The Plate final saw Bracknell vs. Chobhan a team we had already played in the pool games. The sun was shining and by now the boys were fired up for a big game. Bracknell won the toss and started with the ball. Immediately Chobhan were put under pressure as Jed scored the first try. Great defence and fabulous tagging meant Bracknell won the ball back and scored again quickly through Tom. This was repeated at the next start off and Sam scored the third of Bracknell’s tries. Chobhan managed a small rally a clawed back two tries before Lawrence scored a fourth for the boys in black. Half time score 4-2 to Bracknell. The second half saw Chobhan score the first try. Bracknell then ramped up the intensity and scored three more tries through Spencer, Sam and Aden. By now increasing desperation was setting into the Chobhan team. A number of times they tried to break through and occasionally cross the try line, only to discover they had been tagged some way back up the pitch and had not heeded the calls from the ref, coaches and parents to pass. They eventually managed to claw one try back, before Elliot scored the final try. Final score 8-4 to Bracknell.

Scorers; Aden 6, Sam 5, Elliot 5, Jed 3, Lawrence 3, Tom 3, Spencer 2, Toby 2, Oliver 1.