U15s 10 Colchester U15s 22

It’s the performance that counts…

If summer had come early last week for the Colchester game winter was back with vengeance. The weather may have been the polar (no pun intended) opposite to last week but fortunately so was the performance of the Brentwood boys.

Admittedly it didn’t start well. Having been stuck in traffic the first thing I saw whilst legging it over to the pitch was Brentwood concede the first try, unfortunately none of the mum’s on the touch line could actually tell me what happened but could inform me of the great 2 for 1 deals they’d got in Tesco’s this week that they’d been discussing…whatever had occurred, it was 5-0 to Colchester.

During the first half Brentwood were playing against the strong wind, a wind so strong that kicking was virtually impossible and I was surprised that the minis playing along side the pitch were not blown off their feet completely. Billy’s restart just about made it 10 metres but this allowed the ball to be snaffled and come back on the Brentwood side. Both Sam Morgan and William made large dents in the Colchester defence that opened up some space for Joel out wide. Joel steamed into the corner, Brentwood replying immediately to the conceded try. The conversion was nearly impossible given the wind, and even more impossible given Billy was kicking. Although the ball was on target the wind was so strong that it actually went back on itself. 5 all.

The conditions were becoming increasingly more difficult to spectate in, let alone play in and the game got quite scrappy. The desire to win on both sides was immense and Colchester began battering the Brentwood defence, which for possibly the first time this season held strong. The tackles were coming in thick and fast and Colchester were finding it hard to break the determined Brentwood defence down until Brentwood were awarded a scrum just out from their own try line. A free kick was given against them for pushing before instructed to and while Brentwood were rapidly back peddling in order to have retreated 10 metres Colchester tapped and went quickly, scoring in the corner. The conversion went over, no mean feat given the wind, 12-5 to Colchester, which is how the half finished.

Brentwood had the wind behind them in the second half, although for a short while it dropped and allowed the backs to run the ball a bit without the worry of the ball being blown forward during the pass. Good ground was made but unfortunately the ball was knocked on. Assuming the scrum was about to come Brentwood stopped playing but Colchester hacked the ball on. There was a very hairy moment when the ball went straight through all the Brentwood players and the chasing Colchester player just managed to knock the ball on over the try line. The scrum 5 to Brentwood though somehow ended up with a ball lost against the head and a Colchester try. 17-5 to Colchester.

Brentwood were still not beaten though and carried on playing well, a Jordan jink setting up great field position and forcing Colchester into conceding a penalty. From the penalty Brentwood produced a moment of magic. An absolutely blinding penalty move, which I’ve heard has been practised many times in training and very rarely come off, left Colchester in disarray as they had no idea where the ball was and left William to run under the posts completely unopposed. Keith was so beside himself that it actually worked that he could in fact be seen punching the air. Conversion? Don’t be stupid. 17-10 to Colchester and life in the game yet.

Brentwood continued to pressurise but as the hail started rocketing down so hard that it stung it was getting even more difficult to play and with time running out Brentwood probably tried to force the game just slightly. The Colchester defence held firm and when Brentwood made an error Colchester pounced, the last try being a length of the field effort leaving the final score 22-10 to Colchester.

Even though the game was lost, the performance was far more encouraging and hopefully it will be matched in the game against Chelmsford next week although with any luck the weather conditions will be more pleasant!