Kennedy refuses to hit the panic button after Windsor lose to Bracknell

Neal Kennedy said Windsor RFC will not hit the panic button just yet after they were beaten 34-0 by Bracknell at Home Park on Saturday

It’s the home side’s second defeat of the South West 1 East season, but they may not have been destined for this outcome had they showed a bit more of a clinical edge in attack.

The game was evenly balanced at the break, before Bracknell turned on the flair and scored three tries in 12 minutes while Windsor struggled to get a hand on the ball.

However, the result hasn’t overly concerned first XV coach Kennedy as he took the positives from the match and reflected on the start to seasons the rugby club have had prior.

“The first half on Saturday was excellent,” he said. “It was probably the best bit of defensive work I’ve seen from us in a long time. At half-time it was 0-0, so that tells you a lot about the level of strength on show. But, unfortunately in the second half, Bracknell scored three tries in quick succession.

“That really killed the game off and they were really patient to get the bonus point try which I’m guessing they came for.

“We had our chances throughout, but we just needed to be a little bit more clinical. Maybe we needed to understand a little bit of where we were on the pitch, and what we should be doing with the ball.

“But, we have said to the wider squad that we want to play quite an exciting and expansive brand of rugby. With that comes taking risks, and potentially making mistakes, but as long as you make mistakes for the right reason, and you are learning from them then we should be fine.

Kennedy added: “Last season, we had an awful start. I think we had a run of eight games before we won a match. It was six before we got a single point.

“We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve just played one of the favourites, Bracknell, who will be dying to get straight back up again. They showed on Saturday that when they had the chance to get close to the line, then that’s what they will do.

“We can learn from that, but we also have to play our own type of game aswell. I think that is important for us.

“Neither Jack (Pattinson) or I are overly concerned about the result. Like I said, that first half was fantastic. We both spoke during the prematch lunch about recognising positive play and recognising when players are trying to do something a bit different. We don’t want to play boring rugby. We don’t want to play ‘let’s kick the ball away for territory’ all the time. We want to have the ball in our hands, throw it about a bit, and let the guys have some fun.”