Bracknell 3's 13-20 Henley Vikings
By David Lewis
A convincing win at home back in September in the home leg of this contest for the Henley 3’s, the Vikings, was reasonable grounds for optimism as they travelled to Bracknell for their first outing since the Christmas break. However, in the intervening period the Vikings had experienced many team changes, and it was a much younger side that took to the field last Saturday.
With the mix of both experienced players and youth, it was youth that triumphed with the first score, by hooker Ollie Roullier, who broke through Bracknell’s lines within minutes from Henley’s kick off. The conversion was made by Gordon Kerins, making a welcome return to the team after a period of injury and who was standing in as captain.
Despite Henley’s earlier victory in the season, Bracknell were lying just one position behind Henley in the league and so clearly had everything to play for. Bracknell were next to score with a penalty, and they continued to edge towards Henley’s try line. As half time approached, Henley’s player coach and full back, Duncan Zacks, claimed an excellent individual try which was unconverted. However, this was followed promptly by Bracknell securing a last-minute penalty, taking the half time score to 6 -12 in Henley’s favour.
The game was clearly being hard fought with such a narrow score line and this resulted in a number of yellow cards being issued in the second half and at differing times both Henley and Bracknell were down to 13 players on the field. Neither side were prepared to give way, but it was Henley again who gained the upper hand with another break by Zacks, giving Sam Quelch the opportunity to demonstrate his acrobatic skills and grasp the ball over the Bracknell try line to take the score, with the conversion going wide.
Bracknell were not finished and responded with their own converted try, narrowing the score again to within four points. Henley were then unlucky with prop Ryan Lynch being denied a try in the corner as the referee was unsighted. This may be significant as the end of the season as it meant that Henley failed to gain a fourth try and bonus point.
The game finished with a penalty by Henley’s scrum half, Dave Kelly taking the final score to 13 – 20 to Henley.
Match photos courtesy of Andrew Turner available here.
