BRACKNELL RFC put up a brave fight before going down 30-27 at home to new National Three London & South East leaders London Irish Wild Geese on Saturday.

The Lily Hill men secured a bonus point for their efforts, though head coach Rory Greenslade-Jones will be ultimately disappointed after watching his side go so close to securing an impressive victory.

A pulsating encounter saw Irish trailing until late in the first half before the lead changed hands four times in the second in the period.

Sadly, it was Irish who prevailed at the end to maintain their winning star to the campaign.

After a delayed kick off, play was held up again as London Irish were forced to turn their shorts inside out to avoid a colour clash, with the away team now required to change strip under new league regulations.

Bracknell were unlucky not to score an early try when Liam Hemming broke clear only for his final pass to go to ground.

Irish opened the scoring with a Ben Kitching penalty only for Bracknell’s Joe Price to grab the first touchdown after slick interplay between forward and backs.

Scrum half Tony Lawless converted to put the hosts 7-3 up and then added two penalties to increase their lead to 13-3 after 20 minutes.

However, Irish dominated the second quarter and scored a try through winger Matt Killen.

Kitching missed the conversion but landed a penalty soon after to reduce the arrears to 13-11.

The visitors then snatched a second try moments before the half-time break following a series of poor Bracknell tackles and the Kitching’s conversion put them 18-13 ahead at the interval.

However, the hosts struck first after the restart when they stole Irish's ball and George Milligan offloaded to Hemming to score under the posts.

But with the match swinging one end to the other, Irish replied with a kick-and-chase touchdown, only for Bracknell to hit back once again with another score from a lineout from No.8 Lachlan Valentine.

The conversion from Lawless put the hosts 27-23 ahead in the closing stages.

But Bracknell failed to hold on as Irish squirmed the ball over the line for a converted score.

The hosts ended the match camped in the opposition’s 22, but they could not add to their tally and slumped to defeat.

The loss leaves Bracknell two places off the bottom of the table with just one win from their first seven games.

They are without a fixture this weekend due to a break in the league and return to action on November 7 when they travel to Chichester.

Bracknell: 1 Mirza (C), 2 Silvester, 3 Baragwanth, 4 Bailey, 5 Barry, 6 Rudkin, 7 Deveraux, 8 Valentine, 9 Lawless, 10 Hemming, 11 Mackay, 12 Higgins, 13 Price, 14 Burch, 15 Yates. Subs: Milligan, Faamatuainu, Williams.