Brentwood U16s 7 South Woodham Ferrers U16s 17

Brentwood fail to shine…

I’ll admit I very nearly forgot to write this report, I’ve been in a slightly day dreamy state since Josh Lewsey said “hello love” to me. Yes he actually called me love! Unfortunately there was nothing too day dreamy about Brentwood’s game on Sunday. Down to a bare 15 and with a couple of forwards chucked out into the backs it was never going to be the easiest of games but none the less Brentwood started brightly with some good running rugby although some of their decisions weren’t necessarily the safest and the ball was turned over by South Woodham. With the defence out of place and the forwards not all having the pace in the backs to track back as quickly South Woodham made quick ground into the Brentwood 22. They worked a back’s move well to give them some space in the corner and the winger went over for the first try of the match. The conversion missed, 5-0 South Woodham.

The Brentwood boys responded by going back to the bosh merchant game they know and love. Almost immediately it paid dividends with James charging through to score and stand in kicker Chris Doble adding the extras, 7-5 to Brentwood.

Throughout the first half Brentwood looked quite nifty when running the ball and putting it through the hands but decidedly less so when in defence. The upshot of this being that Brentwood went from several promising positions to 12-7 down after a turnover followed by a complete lack of tackles lead to South Woodham scoring a converted try and Brentwood apparently “playing like an 11 year old football team.”

The second half was absolutely dismal from a Brentwood point of view. Nobody appeared to want to dive on any loose ball and South Woodham took full advantage of this to have significant dominance in terms of possession with Brentwood’s defence remaining woeful at times. Eventually South Woodham broke through for another well deserved try, 17-7 to South Woodham which is how the game ended.

It must however be pointed out that whilst the application wasn’t there the effort from the boys was most certainly not missing and can you really expect to win with Billy playing centre (I’ve noticed there’s been a distinct lack of Billy bashing lately, distressing to say the least)? Besides, it was gloriously sunny for February so not that bad for the spectators either!