Brentwood U17s 22 Braintree 24

Brentwood lose at the death…

Brentwood started off stunningly well, so well Keith was inclined to tell me “you have to record that as the best try we’ve ever scored,” as a fine backs move lead by Charlie at fly half with some mischievous antics in the centres put Adam in right by the posts. I’d love to be able to describe it you fully however like the Braintree defence I also completely bought the dummy lines and missed where the ball went! One thing that is a dead cert though is that Charlie knocked the conversion over and Brentwood were 7-0 up.

Brentwood’s next period of play lead me to ask what exactly is Chris McCarthy taking these days? Is it legal…? The Chris we know does not pluck the ball from his bootlaces and then step several defenders…But this did however set up good field position for Brentwood so they could continue to pressure the Braintree line. The ball was then recycled quickly through several phrases before going wide to Roland and his thighs that bulldozed over the line for Brentwood’s second of the game. The conversion missed, 12-0 Brentwood. (As a brief aside Pete would like me to mention he was there this weekend as apparently nobody will believe it if I don’t write it down).

After a bit of a whirlwind start Braintree started to work their way back into the game with Brentwood having to defend for long periods, Sam Fry especially was putting in more than his fair share of tackles however Brentwood were undone by somewhat of a high ball disaster when two players clashed, the ball got knocked on straight into a Braintree players hands and they steamed in unopposed under the posts. With the conversion that made it 12-7 Brentwood.

And then of course Brentwood did exactly what you’re not meant to do, fall asleep just before half time. The otherwise impressive defensive display fell off the face of the earth, something which can not be afforded against Braintree’s lethal backs and from a promising lead Brentwood turned around at half time 14-12 down.

Brentwood re gathered their brains in time for the second half and came out and played some good rugby to start. The build up was patient and as per usual Matt Whaley was everywhere, it occurred to me I never mention him in these reports because you take it for granted that he’s always there. After many phases the ball went wide where Roland provided the scoring pass for Jonny. The conversion missed, 17-14 Brentwood.

Brentwood won possession back pretty much immediately form the restart and Charlie nearly pulled off a spectacular solo move had he not been too flash and tried to roll the ball round his shoulders before catching it…Brentwood remained in the 22 though with good defence and when the ball reached Sam Fry he put his head down and decided he was going to score, end of story, running over several would be defenders as he went. The conversion missed, 22-14 Brentwood.

Braintree were now 8 points adrift but crucially won a penalty in the Brentwood half. The choice was to kick and the Braintree kicker made no mistake in cutting the arrears to 5 points, it was going to be a fascinating finish!

Unfortunately for Brentwood it was to be Braintree who were to have the last say, a combination of Braintree’s will to win and Brentwood’s lack of tactical nous (stick it up the jumper lads!) allowed Braintree to score the try for the draw. With the conversion to come the Braintree kicker made no mistake, 22-24 to Braintree and full time. Even though the result didn’t swing Brentwood’s way it was still a great game from both teams and a good one for the spectators. A thanks to the U16 we borrowed to make up the numbers, although I doubt he’ll be volunteering again following being made to drink some awful concoction in the clubhouse afterwards. And finally, no Billy bashing this week because he was far too scared to play. (School trip? Yeah right.)