U15s 36 South Woodham U15s 12

Brentwood sizzle in the heat…

Fortunately Brentwood started the game much more brightly than last week. Straight from the off the forwards secured the ball and made good yards and when the ball was sent to the backs there was a good break from Sam Fry and some good work from Roland. Brentwood’s strong start eventually ended in Luke going over the try line for the opening of the scoring. Billy’s conversion went in off the cross bar, something Del assures me was meant to happen…7-0 Brentwood and a good start.

Brentwood continued to exert pressure on South Woodham who defended well for a long period but Brentwood had so much ball and so much possession that there was a sense of inevitability that they would score, it was just a case of when. The try finally came when, from a scrum, Jordan came whizzing off his wing on a mars bar and ran through an attempted tackle to score. Billy’s conversion landed short. 12-0 Brentwood.

The backs were looking far more lively than they had done previously with both Michael and again Sam Fry making good breaks and the forwards had upped their game, props William and Carl both being prominent in play.

However South Woodham were next on the score sheet. From a turnover in their own 22 they opted to clear their lines with a kick. The kick went down the middle of the pitch but Brentwood failed to deal with it, I appreciate the ground was a bit solid but nobody wanted to dive on it and the ball was rolling around all over the place. Because of this South Woodham managed to collect the ball and go over to score. The conversion was missed, 12-5 Brentwood.

Brentwood replied by again piling on the pressure at the other end of the pitch. The waves of attack kept coming and a good move saw Roland just squeezed out in the corner. Although I am told the touch judge on that side (somebody called Jake Eagleton) was decidedly dodgy…A Brentwood knock on at the resulting lineout lead to a scrum to South Woodham. South Woodham won the ball but when attempting to clear were met by Chris Doble living up to his tour nickname of Superman. He dived at the ball and got the charge down and Billy was on hand to jump on the loose ball to score. Of course he missed the conversion, 17-5 Brentwood with half time following shortly afterwards.

For the amount of pressure Brentwood were piling on in the opening period of the 2^nd half they should have scored sooner but the South Woodham defence held firm. It had to give eventually, Carl barging his way over for the score. Charlie had taken over the kicking duties because Billy was useless (ok so he’d been subbed for a breather but I’m still offended that I’m not in his top Myspace friends…) and he slotted the extra two points, 24-5 to Brentwood.

The next part of the game saw James set off on a steaming run and mow over the South Woodham fullback like a high speed train. This did however slow James’ momentum and he eventually fell over whereas had he stepped the fullback he probably would have been under the posts. Conspiracy theories were being thrown around on the touchline that he couldn’t be bothered to sprint the rest of the pitch but the try was scored when the ball was quickly spread to Joel on the wing and he pinned his ears back for the corner. The conversion missed, 29-5 Brentwood followed by a break as the South Woodham fullback was helped up looking decidedly shaky. As somebody mentioned he should get a medal for that!

With the warmth now glorious if you were on the touchline and unbearable if you were on the pitch and the vast majority of the Brentwood boys with boots held together purely by assorted colours of tape, Charlie’s blue tape being decided as the nicest shade by myself and Jodie, it was credit to both teams that they managed to keep playing at the intensity they were. South Woodham were pushing for their second try and only some good hoovering up from both Daniel and Adam saved Brentwood on a couple of occasions. However South Woodham did get a deserved try after some good play from a scrum. Their conversion was also good, 29-12 Brentwood.

South Woodham was now on the up, buoyed by their try, and Daniel produced a great last man tackle to stop them from probably scoring. The last word however went to Brentwood, a maul marching South Woodham back up the pitch and James peeling off for the score in the corner. Charlie nailed the conversion 36-12 and Billy out of a job.

A good win in the last full game of the season and a festival to look forward to at Colchester next week. Lastly a special mention to Billy’s fan club that turned up to watch, obviously they don’t understand the rules of the game or they’d pick someone decent to watch! And that’s retaliation for the sweaty shirt that was kindly shoved in my face…