On a bright and mild November morning Bletchley hosted a squad from Brackley.

Bletchley Lions 20-30  Brackley

The Lions met a well drilled and disciplined Brackley team today and came off second.  In truth the Lions started slowly and only managed to raise their game in the second half by which time Brackley had achieved points on the board to make things difficult for the hosts.  This was a disappointing performance and the boys were disappointed themselves, they didn't perform to the levels they have shown lately.

With Brackley scoring first and then the next four tries alternated a 10-15 scoreline gave the Lions a chance.  Despite some silly knock-ons, broken tackles and lack of concentration in defence we were all expecting the performance to pickup and the Lions to quickly add to a breakaway try from Cameron and one from a scaveaging Sam Dickson.  The comeback however became more difficult when Brackley scored a late try at the end of the first half.  Half-time 10-20.

The half time talk focussed on the positional sense of the defensive line and the need to get into Brackleys strongest runners early. Without doubt this improved in the second half.  We ran straighter, we tackled earlier and harder and were more agressive competing for loose ball.

After a brace of Elliott  Hales tries the scores stood at a nail-biting 20-25 and hopes were high that we could level things however Brackley broke away and scored a try giving the scoreline a fair reflection of how the two teams competed over the whole match.

Once again there was a committed performance from hooker Finlay who always kept up with play and won the Lions player of the week.  Jack Ellams hobbled off and we hope his knee is better soon.

Homework for the players ahead of next weeks training is to work on:

• Avoiding where possible taking the ball into contact.
• Good presentation must be followed by quick clearing out to ensure clean ball.
• Positional play in defence.  Stay focussed.

Team:  Cameron, Finlay, Sam Dejean (Sam Dickson); Nicholas, Chris, Jamie, William, Jack Ellams (Elliott), Jake

Bletchley Barbarians  15-15  Brackley

The Barbarians stepped up to the task to restore some squad pride today.  Effective running with the ball and some fierce defending showed that this Bletchley team really are Barbarians.

The game startly brilliantly as Barbarians dominated the ball and territory limiting Brackley to only a few short forrays into their own half.  Forwards Jack, Callum and Alex were superb in contact and made life difficult for the Brackley forwards who had had so much success in the first game.  When our forwards won ball they were not afraid to run straight at their opponents either.

Behind the scrum Jamie is getting quicker balls to the backs and both Charlies (KJ and Brinicombe) and Bens (Cooper and Priestley) attacked superbly.  The coaches also noticed that the defensive tackling of the backs,  including Matthew and James, was much improved and a late try by Brackley was their only success of the first half.  With the ball Charlie KJ had an early try disallowed but efforts from him and Alex Easton were enough to give Barabrians a deserved lead.  Alex's try was a result of ripping the ball in a maul and running half the length of the pitch.  Half time 10-5.

In the second half Brackley came back at Barbarians and scored a levelling try.  Showing a great deal of resolve Barbarians were not to be outdone and a Charlie KJ try restored the lead.   This lead was to last until practically the very end of the game when the visitors tied the score at 15-15.  The scoreline was a little harsh but Barbarians will take a great deal of heart from their performance.  Well done.

Team:  Jack Molloy, Callum, Alex; Jamie, Charlie KJ, Ben Cooper (James G), Ben Priestley, Matthew, Charlie Brinicombe