U15s 10 Shelford U15s 21

Brentwood blown over…

The game didn’t exactly start well. A dropped restart and then a penalty conceded put Brentwood on the back foot but with the wind behind them they started to get into their rhythm; a great line from Jordan setting up good field position. The ball was then knocked on but the scrum from Shelford was not the best and gave Sam Morgan plenty of time to race up to the fly half and charge down the attempted clearance kick. The bounce ricocheted towards the try line at a rate of knots, aided by the strong wind, and just eluded Mikey, going dead just as he tried to pounce on it.

The 22-drop out saw Brentwood regain the ball but Shelford soon turned it over, for what wouldn’t be the first time during the match. On the counter Shelford were brutal, the ball shipped effectively and a jinking run, helped by Brentwood’s Achilles Heel this season, missing tackles, saw Shelford go underneath the posts. The conversion was good, 7-0 to Shelford.

For the next period play was pretty even and as a result most of the game was in the middle of the pitch with neither team securing the ball very well in the tight. As a result of this there was a mad period of play were the ball was knocked on countless times but play was allowed to continue. The ball bounced into Shelford’s hands and they raced the length of the pitch to score under the sticks again. The conversion was spot on, 14-0 Shelford.

At this point Brentwood woke up some what with regards to tactics, working out that with a strong wind behind them kicking for territory would actually be quite a good idea. The resulting lineout caused resident RTPs Mick and Bill to start arguing with the touch judge, if you can’t behave we’ll have to separate you…despite this Brentwood got a penalty. It was tapped to Sam Morgan who, as always, went crashing into the defensive line headfirst and presented the ball well. The forwards recycled and Chris McCarthy piled over on the second surge for the line. Billy’s conversion was blown off course by the wind, 14-5 to Shelford.

Brentwood was now starting to up their game, the rucking was getting better and the mauling was good. There were powerful runs from the forwards, notably William and James, and Brentwood was starting to look a bit livelier. Some more hard graft in the tight led to some Shelford defenders getting sucked in and the ball was whipped out quickly to Jordan. With a bit of space to use he took the man on the outside and was off on a scorching dash down the touchline to score in the corner. The one time Billy should have aimed for the corner flag because the wind would have pulled the ball back, Billy actually aimed for the posts and the wind duly took the ball miles off target. 14-10 Shelford with half time following.

The second half started with general crashing and bashing in the middle of the field but Shelford began to use the wind to their advantage as they pinned Brentwood back. The pressure mounted as Shelford continued to pound away at the Brentwood defence, working their way into the 22. They camped in the 22 for the majority of the 2^nd half with only some brave defence keeping them out. Eventually a Shelford maul was shoved into touch and Brentwood had the lineout 5 metres out, a Shelford hand knocked the ball on, scrum Brentwood. It seemed this would finally be a chance for Brentwood to clear their lines but Shelford put on a huge shove at the scrum and the ball for scrum half Mikey was bad. He hurriedly flung the ball to Billy who, in his hurry to clear, produced more of a cross-field kick than a clearance kick. More something you’d try on the opposition try line rather than your own. You could probably call it suicide rugby. Weirdly though, it very nearly came off, Adam juggling the ball despite not expecting it at all but just knocking on.

Unfortunately the boys’ eagerness to rectify the situation saw a penalty given away. The extra bit of attacking space gave Shelford the slight advantage they needed to break the defence and they were through to score their third try. The conversion was again good, 21-10 to Shelford and game lost as the full time whistle was blown but some positives can be taken from this game and also some good lessons can be learnt, such as using the wind to your advantage (because otherwise it’ll just stab you in the back by taking down the power lines and cutting off your electricity for over 12 hours, forcing you to skive first period to do your hair…).

Lastly I’d like to wish both Jake and Chris Doble speedy recoveries with their injuries and hope to see them back competing for their places soon.