Match result: Brackley 17 v 11 Bourne RUFC

Bourne made the long 90 mile trip to Brackley at the weekend for their Midlands 4 East (S) match. Due to unavailability and injuries only 14 players travelled including coach Forbes, Adam Sanderson making his debut and veteran Simon Wren who was persuaded to travel at the last minute. It was a freezing cold day with light rain and the pitch was not the best, but Bourne arrived in plenty of time to get the long drive out their system. Brackley had a full team plus 5 replacements so it was always going to be an uphill battle.

The opening exchanges were even, with both teams kicking up field to test each other, unfortunately just after 5 minutes Brackley scored a try out wide which they converted making the score 7-0.

Bourne dug in at this point and put good pressure on of their own , leading to Brackley conceding numerous penalties and eventually when one was awarded out wide on the 22 , scrum half Harley Giullari stepped up to slot the 3 points. The 7 man scrum was holding its own to give Bourne reasonable ball, with Hume working well with Giullari at the base of the scum , Dixon was using Thornburn on the crash ball to draw the defence in, and good work from the forwards was recycling the ball to keep the moves alive. Wren at fullback was fielding everything that came to him and continued support from the forwards gave some good ball and opportunity to run the ball. Play was fairly even for the remainder of the half with neither team crossing the try line to make the half time score 7-3 to Brackley.

Bourne were on the attack again straight from the restart, Douglas collected the kick off and went on a run upfield , with Wood in close support taking the ball into contact, further support from impressive Legge and Hiscocks gave good ball to Giullari who fed Dixon, Croker took the ball on this time and when held up just outside the 22 , the referee gave a penalty. Bourne were still in this match and rather than kicking for posts Dixon chose to run the ball. Brackley were expecting the crash ball again to Thornburn , but Dixon cleverly kicked Cross-field for winger Jordan Boddey who was first to the ball to touch down in the corner, Bourne now led 7-8.

Brackley made changes and the fresh legs started to tell, Their prop forward made a break down the centre charging for the line, he offloaded what looked like a forward pass to everyone except the referee and his teammate scored under the posts, the conversion however was missed. 12-8. Unfortunately with 20 minutes to go Bourne lost Thornburn to a neck injury and were down to 13 men . The 6 man scrum was still winning ball with Wood and Forbes solid to the end and Appleby hooking well under pressure, Dixon was kicking everything he could and Croker and both wings Sanderson and Jordan Boddey chased everything to stay in the Brackley half.

Brackley did manage to break the Bourne defence again and score out wide for an unconverted try making the score 17 – 8 . Bourne still did not give up and pressured the opposition from the kick off Legge was first there and Hiscocks cleared out with some aggression to keep the move going forward. At the next breakdown Brackley were judged to be offside and with less than a minute remaining Dixon had the chance of a penalty some 25m out, he calmly stood up to the ball and made the kick to score the 3 points, making the final score 17-11 and earning Bourne a losing bonus point.

Every player in the team had played their part and even with 14 players with teamwork and strong tackling anything is possible. All players should be proud of their performance and the fact they never gave up right to the end.

Bourne play Deepings at home next in the local Derby with hopefully a bigger squad available. Kick off at 2.15pm. The club are hosting a club lunch before the game, anyone interested please get in contact.