BRACKNELL RFC slipped to a fourth consecutive South West One East defeat as they were beaten 36-26 at home to Ivybridge in a high-scoring tussle on Saturday.

The hosts suffered an early set back as Kim Plant was sin-binned for reckless play inside the opening minute, and Billy Pinkus landed the penalty.

Bracknell missed a shot of their own to level before a second Pinkus penalty on 15 minutes made it 6-0.

Things got worse shortly after when sustained pressure from the visitors ended with James Tripcony going over, and a wonderful individual score by Ben Watts – who caught the ball on his own 22 before running in under the posts – was converted to put Ivybridge 18-0 to the good.

A further Pinkus penalty extended the lead even further, although Bracknell did hit back before the break when Stuart Mackay popped the ball to Plant who went over. Ben Nowak’s conversion cut the gap to 21-7 at the interval.

The Lily Hill men grabbed a second score when Leo Bailey went over from a rolling maul, Nowak again adding the extras, but their momentum was checked when Lewis Patterson crossed for a converted Ivybridge score.

Bailey’s second try – again converted by Nowak – made it 28-21, but a Pinkus score gave the visitors their bonus point.

Bracknell earned one of their own when James Ingle went over, but any hopes of a comeback victory were ended with another Ivybridge penalty and Harry Challenor’s sin-binning.

Bracknell are without a fixture this weekend.

  • CROWTHORNE battled to a 15-3 BB&O Premier success at Tadley, climbing to fifth in the table and one place behind their opponents.