The Rhinos overcame a lack lustre first half performance to secure a second consecutive draw, but suffered more injury woes on the way. Broadmoor Academy, who by the way beat Reading III 22-12 back in November, are to join the Thames Valley Invitation League in Division C next season, and based on this performance they could well win promotion at their first attempt.
The home side took the lead inside three minutes when, after concerted pressure, a gap appeared on the Rhinos’ left flank, and the Broadmoor right wing took his chance to score in the corner. When the lead was extended to twelve points just four minutes later, things began to look bleak for the visitors. From a scrum 25 metres out, the fly half ran blind and broke through three tackles, before feeding his full back for the first of his three tries. Although Justin Wheeler got the Rhinos on the board after eighteen minutes with a penalty, this was to be a temporary respite, as the home side’s full back was again fed by his fly half and he sped through the defence to score under the posts.
The combination of a stern team talk from Captain Sharp, and youthful over exuberance from the home team’s No. 10, saw the Rhinos haul themselves back into the match. The fly half trying to find his outside centre, miscalculated his pass, and flanker Marc McAdden was on hand to scoop the ball up and run 30 metres to the right hand corner for a score, which was superbly converted by Wheeler.
However, the half time deficit of 24-10, widened within a minute of the restart, as the Rhinos lost a scrum on their own put in, and the lethal combination of fly half and full back joined forces yet again, with the latter running three quarters of the length of the field for his hat-trick.
It took a piece of pure genius to get Reading back in the game and the magic was provided by big Dave Swan, who flicked up a loose ball with his boot, and his pass to substitute Jofi Alexander saw the winger sprinting over from 25 metres. With Wheeler again adding the extras from wide out, suddenly there was only one score between the sides.
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