Brackley RUFC

Brackley continued their pursuit for promotion with a bonus point 31-22 win over Aylestone St. James in their first home game of 2019.

With just two points separating the sides going into the match, both teams were desperate to get the win to boost their promotion chances. Brackley started like a house on fire, putting the visitors under immediate pressure. 15 minutes into the game and the good start was rewarded with a try, when prop Graeme Cartmell took a quick tap and go from 5 metres out to crash over and make it 5-0.

Brackley continued this momentum, quickly putting Aylestone under pressure in their 22 again. After some slick offloads from the forwards, man of the match Chris Goodall was able dive over for a second try, which was converted by Seb Johnson to make it 12-0. The visitors seemed unable to cope with Brackley's pace of play and offloading, with a try looking like it could come at any moment. Then after an excellent break by Cartmell saw the hosts get back into the Aylestone 22, the ball was quickly recycled and went through the hands before centre Nathan Archer found the gap in the defence for a third try, converted by Johnson.

Within minutes of scoring the third try, Brackley had their bonus point when outside centre Mikey Lowe made a break and as he got caught, was able to offload to wing George Altham who scored under the posts to make it 26-0. With less than 30 minutes gone the game looked like it could get out of hand. However credit to Aylestone who didn't let their heads drop and started to work themselves back into the match. With their first venture into the Brackley 22, they put it through the hands before their outside centre sliced his way through the midfield to make it 26-5 at half time.

Getting on the scoreboard seemed to ignite the visitors in the second half and suddenly Brackley were the ones under pressure and struggling to cope with the powerful Aylestone forward runners. Then from just outside the Brackley 22, the Aylestone fly half dummied his way through the home defence to score, which he converted to make it 26-12.

Aylestone were making a real comeback and causing the home side to give away penalties and then a high tackle by Cartmell saw him get yellow carded. It didn't take the visitors long to take advantage as they used their forwards to power through Brackley, eventually crashing over in the corner to make it 26-17. Brackley did well to make this the only score they conceded during the sin binning period but the game was now on a knife edge.

The tension at Nightingale Close got even worse, when with 10 minutes to go, Brackley failed to clear their lines before a chip over the top by the Aylestone fly half led to a mix up at the back, which he took advantage off to get his second and make it 26-22. With the coach's words ringing in their ears, the hosts finally woke back up and started to control more of the possession and worked their way into the visitors' 22. Knowing the next score would likely win the game, Brackley were hammering at the Aylestone defence and eventually replacement Jonny Morris was able to power over from close range to make it 31-22.

Whilst the performance was far from perfect and they made it hard for themselves, Brackley will be delighted to come away with the bonus point win, which sees them now only two points behind second placed Sileby. Brackley now have two weeks to prepare for another big match, when they travel to rivals Bedford Swifts in a fortnight.