With 8 minutes on the clock fly-half Tom Whelan slipped through the tight defence and put Exmouth in front with try and conversion, 0-7. 6 minutes later Whelan had an opportunity to increase the lead with a penalty but just missed. For the first 30 minutes the East Devon side looked as sharp as their opposition and when centre Nick Headley burst through for his try, you could be forgiven for thinking this was going to be one way traffic, albeit a tough trip against a very competitive team. The Cockles leading 0-12. The Berkshire team is notoriously difficult to turnover at home and so it proved. Vic Hardwicke, Bracknell fly-half missed a penalty but set his strong running centre Pec Nacamavuto over for the host’s first score. Converted by Hardwicke, 7-12. Exmouth held out until 39 minutes when Gabe Hills went over to level the score, just on half time, 12-12.

The break did not help Exmouth who fell behind just 5 minutes after the restart. Army prop Ken Dowding muscled over in the wide corner, the try went unconverted, 17-12. For 15 minutes the game seemed finely balanced with both team looking to tighten their grip. On 60 minutes the task for the visitors got harder when Connor O’Shaughnessy had to take an enforced 10 minute break with a yellow card. Two minutes later Hardwicke slotted a penalty to increase Bracknell lead 20-17. Bracknell looked to make sure of the victory on 68 minutes when Hills went over for his second, converted by Hardwicke, 27-12. A great feature of the Exmouth team is they will keep working to maximum effort throughout the 80 minutes. With a couple of minutes left on the clock, Henry Goldson worked well to break and run in a final try, 27-17. It has to be said that the Cockles may rue a missed opportunity to walk away with something from this game. A penalty awarded seemed to signal that the successful kick would seal a losing bonus point. A decision was taken to work for two losing points with running phases to score a fourth try. After several good drives and getting over the Bracknell try line, the referee decided that the visitors had knocked the ball on and blew his whistle on time up.

The training night reviews will undoubtedly look at penalty count, defence and decision making. All will be spot on when the Cockles play host to Brixham next weekend. This will be a tasty dish, served with real crunch with Kick Off at 2 pm.