Bracknell’s red card woes
Bracknell 17 Barnstaple 32
BRACKNELL were left to rue a red card as they suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time since October as fortress Lily Hill Park fell to Barnstaple.
In their first game of 2019, the hosts moved into a 14-3 lead before Ken Dowding was given his marching orders. That allowed play-off chasing Barnstaple to roar back in the second half to win by 15 points.
Callum Lee broke the deadlock after good work by Peceli Nacamavutu and the visitors were reduced to 14 men when Ben Hilton was shown a yellow card for a no arms tackle. However, the numerical advantage was quickly wiped out when Michael Clarke was also sent to the sin bin.
Bracknell’s lead was cut to 7-3 via a penalty on the half hour mark before Cam MacDonald followed Clarke in receiving his marching orders for a tip tackle.
The home side bagged their second try of the afternoon before the break when Simon Bayliss found space on the wing to score in the corner.
The game’s turning point soon followed as the illdisciplined contest took another twist when Dowding was sent off after retaliating to being allegedly punched, giving Barnstaple an extra man for the remainder of the contest.
And the visitors reduced the arrears to 14-10 by half-time when Ryan Cater scored under the posts.
But from 17-13 behind, Barnstaple powered clear to win 32-17 with Kevin Angel awarded a try despite claims he was held up short before further scores from Adam Lloyd and Martinas Deonantas.
“I think we physically dominated the game and deserved more from it,” said Bracknell head of rugby Daniel ap Dafydd. “Had we had 15 on the pitch for the whole game, the result may well have been different.
The defeat was Bracknell’s first at home in five matches and leaves them 10th in the table ahead of a trip to league leaders Bournemouth on Saturday (2pm).
BRACKNELL: Hills, Bayliss, MacDonald, Nacamavutu, Burch, Hardwicke, Franklin, Hodge, Clarke, Dowding, Bailey, Verley, Johnson, Lee, Gibbons. Reps: Cotterell, Stevenson-Leigh, Laidler.