BRACKNELL RFC’S woeful start to 2016 continued as they were thrashed 46-24 by Colchester in National Three London & South East, writes Richard Ashton.

In a game switch the Maidenhead’s Braywick Park 4G surface due to the Lily Hill Park pitch being waterlogged, Bracknell were forced to play the opening 40 minutes into a strong wind.

Colchester made a dream start when blind-side flanker Ben Murphy crossed in the fourth minute, although the home side hit back strongly with a concerted period of pressure in their opponents’ 22.

This ended with Oliver Pickett being sent to the sin-bin following a string of infringements from his side, but Bracknell were unable to take any points away, Lewis Dennett’s attempted penalty drifting wide in the wind.

Colchester moved further ahead shortly afterwards as man-of-the-match Damien Bramley crossed, with James Crozier’s conversion extending the lead to 12-0.

The Lily Hill men suffered another setback when they lost their own scrum, and some skilful handling from the Essex side allowed No. 8 Dan White to dot down before Crozier again converted on 37 minutes.

Worse was to come for Bracknell on the stroke of half time as more sloppy defensive play allowed the visitors to create an overlap which was finished by wing Owen Herbert, giving Colchester a 24-0 advantage at the interval.

Any hopes Bracknell may have had of launching a stirring second-half comeback were dashed swiftly after the break, as a series of missed tackles allowed Herbert to complete a quick-fire brace and canter over the line.

Bramley matched his team-mate’s achievement thereafter and although Crozier’s attempted conversion was off target, Bracknell were staring down the barrel of a humiliating loss as they trailed 36-0.

However, Rory Greenslade-Jones’s men showed their character and got on the scoresheet following a spell of sustained pressure, replacement hooker Stuart Silvester going over in the right-hand corner following a powerful driving maul.

The home side scored again almost immediately as academy player Grant Coates marked his first appearance for the senior side by crossing the whitewash, although Dennett’s conversion again went wide.

With 20 minutes remaining, home supporters began to dream as their side scored a third try. Powerful inside centre Dan Faamatuainu broke through the visitors’ defence and then produced a fine off-load to allow Joe Pickett in for a score.

With Dennett finally landing a kick, the gap had been cut to 36-17.

However, Bracknell failed to deal with their opponents’ restart, allowing Bramley to grab his hat-trick and put the result back beyond doubt.

The Lily Hill men refused to lie down, though, and they earned a try bonus-point by going over for a fourth score.

Full back Ben Yates collected another deft off-load from second row Lachlan Valentine to dot down to the left of the posts. Dennett was again on target with the extras for Bracknell.

Despite their brave comeback, it was Colchester – and that man Bramley – who had the final say, with the centre bagging a fourth score just before the final whistle.

A pensive Greenslade-Jones admitted: “It was a very tough day. We weren’t as accurate as we needed to be and we missed too many one-on-one tackles."

l CROWTHORNE RFC host Alchester in the BB&O Premier this Saturday (2.15pm).