'We didn't perform for Brooksie, we let him down', says Maidenhead RFC skipper Parrott

For a captain who wears his heart on his sleeve, it was not an option for Myke Parrott to hide his feelings after the defeat to Bracknell on Saturday.

Parrott, more than anyone, had hoped his side could perform in their first home match since the death of director of rugby Tony Brooks.

But it was not to be and, immediately after the match, Parrott said the team’s emotions were raw.

“It’s tough to take. It hurts a lot especially as we’re wearing Rosslyn Park socks for Tony, it being a derby too, it’s pretty raw,” he said.

“I don’t think we were over-emotional. We had a couple of positional changes, we lost Dave Cole this morning so had to rejig our back row, and lost a couple during the match so had to keep rejigging.

“But Bracknell did us at the breakdown and were clinical with any possession they had. They took the game away from us. There’s no excuses. We weren’t good enough, we didn’t adapt well enough.

“Congratulations to Bracknell, I thought they were well worth their win. They were pumped and had a big following here, as did Newbury (who also beat Maids at Braywick). That buoyed them and we didn’t react too well to that.

“We weren’t good enough, we didn’t react well enough, we didn’t work hard enough, fight hard enough.”

Parrott added: “We didn’t perform for Brooksie (Tony Brooks) and let him down which is tough to take especially in front of his family.

“It’s tough as we have had such a great season, it’s a shame we have fallen away in the last couple of games, but if you had offered us this position at start of season we would have taken it.

“We have avoided relegation, which is a huge plus, and we will go away, train hard and come back.”

Maids are away to Weston-super-Mare on Saturday in their penultimate league match of the campaign.