South West One

Bracknell 27 pts Weston 15 pts

THE failure of Weston's line-out and poor kicking out of hand during the first half were the major contributions to their defeat at the hands of South West 1 stragglers Bracknell at Lily Park.

After coming under early pressure, the Seasiders recovered, but two attacking line-outs were forfeited for the hosts to escape.

Events were about even until the 23rd minutes when a wayward kick gave Bracknell the opportunity to run the ball back strongly and eventually, Ben Hankinson was driven over for Ben Nowak to convert.

Weston were unfortunate when Joe Ewens was adjudged offside as he was crossing the home line following Mark Armstrong's chip, and before the interval, Goran Vucicevic was thwarted at the corner after Armstrong's break.

But the visitors were soon in further arrears when Bracknell's restart was fumbled and Nowak kicked a penalty; then Weston ran in front of their own re-start which eventually cost them a try by David Budge.

At 15-nil, Weston were in trouble, but they made a considerable effort to bring the score back to 15-10.

After Paul Sprague and James Reid had gone close, Matthew Burns, who had replaced blood victim Sprague, squeezed over at the right corner, and five minutes later, good work by Bryce Noble and replacement Andrew Ball provided Takura Madamombe with a powerful run to the left corner.

Neither score was converted and as Weston's line-out continued to deteriorate, the hosts' third try was touched down by Matias Newton.

Nowak converted again, but Sprague's try in the 74th minute gave Weston some hope.

However, Bracknell, who never looked like a team facing relegation, held their nerve and finished strongly with a final try by replacement James O'Driscoll.

Weston: G Vucicevic; P Sprague (M Burns 11-17), J Reid, J Ewens, T J Madamombe; M Armstrong, L Hember (M Burns 79); D Milenkovic, D Burge, N Lavender (H Smith 60), A Richards, B Noble, D Cook (A Ball 60), M Denbee, G Simpson.