A blast of 36 second half points was enough in the end for Wimbledon to see off an organised and well drilled Bracknell team. The first forty minutes was a very cagey affair with both teams cancelling out each other. Wimbledon opened the scoring with a well finished try by winger Tom Bracegirdle and then they managed to twice hold the visitors up over the line to prevent a score. Eventually Bracknell’s forwards crashed over and that plus a well taken penalty gave the Bracknell an 8-5 half time lead.

Wimbledon had the advantage of the breeze in the second half and half backs Tim Ridler and Ed Morgan kicked intelligently to ensure the home team had high field position. Some excellent handling by the backs saw Bracegirdle score his second try of the match. Despite hardly being in the Wimbledon half Bracknell did manage to score when an unnecessary breakdown penalty gave them excellent field position bringing the score to 13-13. Bracknell struggled all afternoon at the lineout and from turnover ball a well weighted George Brosch cross kick saw Olly Thomas restore the Wimbledon lead, Morgan converting superbly from the touchline. Morgan himself was next to score when after a series a phases the mere hint of a dummy saw him break through the defence line and under the posts. Bracknell showed great resilience and again came back to score and move to within seven points of Wimbledon at 27-20. However two tries from left wing Luca Rizzo and another monster conversion from Morgan put the game beyond Bracknell’s reach. Fierce defence also stopped the away team scoring their fourth try thus ensuring they collected no bonus points.

Wimbledon RFC Director of Rugby Steve Hill commented;’ We had to dig very deep for that win. In the first half we were a bit too lateral and lacked accuracy. For the last thirty minutes I thought our energy and fitness really began to tell. The forwards laid on a great platform for our six tries to all be scored by our backs.