U15s 25 Rochford U15s 27

Brentwood play it patchy…

On a gloriously sunny day it was hard to believe the Brentwood boys hadn’t played for a good month due to waterlogged pitches and even harder to fathom why the Rochford pitch was in such good nick.

Despite lack of match practice the boys started off in an adventurous mood, running the ball from their own try line with Jordan and Roland providing some probing runs. The game was flowing nicely with some good running and offloading being followed by some impressive mauling but the ball just couldn’t be grounded over the line. At the resulting scrum Rochford cleared their lines for a lineout just outside the 22.

The lineout ball for Rochford was scrappy and the attempt at a clearance kick was charged down. It ricocheted towards Billy who produced a great pick up and whizzed it out wide quickly to Joel. Joel was hauled down just short of the try line but presented the ball well and kept Rochford on the back foot which allowed Chris Doble, on his return from injury, to pick the ball up and go over for the try near the corner. Billy’s conversion missed, 5-0 Brentwood.

Brentwood then decided they’d doze off for a bit and not for the first time this season, forgetting how to tackle. Rochford took full advantage of this to reply almost immediately by scoring under the posts. The conversion was slotted, Rochford lead 7-5.

This gave Brentwood the wake up they needed to play another spell of good rugby. They were making good inroads in Rochford via the forwards and although the ball was turned over it was kicked back straight down full back Roland’s throat. Roland straightened his line and passed wide to Joel who made good yardage before getting tackled. The supporting Chris Doble carried the ball forward a further couple of metres and quick ball was then whipped back out to Joel who bounced and pirouetted through a couple of tackles to finish expertly in the corner. The conversion missed, 10-7 to Brentwood.

Brentwood then produced some nicer running rugby, which gave Jordan space to dance down the wing. Nobody could touch him as he rocketed over in the corner although seemingly nobody was trying to make kicking easy for Billy as another touchline conversion attempt missed. 15-7 to Brentwood and a good way to go into half time.

The second half began with Sam Morgan showing everyone his juggling party trick as he struggled to keep hold of the restart catch although he did eventually get to grips with it. Somehow from this a break was on. Admittedly the details are a bit foggy and your roving match reporter may have been trying to catch a tan at the time but the result was Joel scorching up the wing on the far side of the pitch and running in to score. Billy now subbed, Adam took over kicking duties but also missed, 20-7 to Brentwood.

At a point where the game could have been sewn up Brentwood again decided to step off the gas and with Rochford not about to lay down and die things started getting difficult. Some defence which was flakier than Charlie Hodgson saw Rochford reply again almost immediately with a try down in the corner. The conversion missed, 20-12 to Brentwood.

Rochford had the belief that they could get back into the game and from the restart they struck again through a kick and chase through. Although a great covering tackle was made by Dan the ball was again hacked on and dived on by a Rochford player to score the second try in as many minutes. The conversion was missed, 20-17 and suddenly Brentwood only had a 3-point cushion instead of the 13 they’d had 3 minutes ago.

Brentwood’s self destruct act continued when an aimless miss pass was thrown straight into the bread basket of a defending Rochford player who went the length of the pitch to score and intercept try. Good tracking back did however prevent the score under the posts so the conversion missed, 22-20 to Rochford.

Brentwood finally decided to put up some resilience against the Rochford try fest of a second half with Sam Morgan setting up on a devastating run from his own half which culminated in him just being dragged down short of the line. A maul was then formed by the Brentwood forwards but the ball was held up over the line giving Brentwood the scrum 5.

Despite nearly losing their own scrum, something which is normally unheard of, Brentwood managed to secure possession and after a couple of phases Sam Fry managed to break a couple of tackles to go over in the corner for a late try. The conversion missed, 25-22 the slender lead to Brentwood.

The try should probably have secured the win for Brentwood but they had other ideas, conceding numerous pointless penalties and handing the advantage straight back to Rochford. Rochford could sense blood and in the dying moments of the game got the opportunity to whip the ball out wide, the final try of the game was the winner for Rochford in the corner. The conversion missed but it didn’t matter, full time 27-25 to Rochford.

Much like with the French we await with anticipation to see which team will turn up to face Colchester next week.