Brentwood U16s 7 Braintree U16s 14

The tree is mightier than the wood…

Brentwood actually looked quite up for this game, the tackle bags were being hit hard in the warm up and I was being told off by someone’s Nan for having a black and yellow pen since it matched Braintree’s kit…I bought it because it was Wasps coloured honestly!

Pen colours apart the game started reasonably brightly from a Brentwood point of view with Roland looking dangerous at fullback and Jonny getting close to the try line, only to be denied by the Braintree cover.

And then the bright start began to dim. Some iffy defence nearly cost Brentwood a try which, at that point, would have been against the run of play and it appeared they were starting to doze off. Fortunately there was a flash of inspiration at fly half from Adam, a delightful break through the Braintree defensive line followed by a well timed pass to supporting Jake saw Jake in for the first try of the game having rounded the fullback. Chris Doble was on target with the conversion, 7-0 Brentwood.

Following the try Brentwood looked liked they might actually try to play to their potential and started winning penalties and improving their somewhat holey defence with Adam, Sam Fry and Jake looking water tight in the middle of the field.

And then of course it all went down the toilet, a pass went straight into the hands of a lurking Braintree player and disaster was only narrowly averted by Roland just making it back in time to make the tackle.

Half time came and the boys trooped off for their team talk.

The beginning half saw “the most pathetic defence in the world” as I appear to have written in my notebook, in retrospect a tad harsh but it definitely wasn’t the best and boys I know you frequently get told to watch more rugby but Balshaw isn’t a good role model…Braintree, as you would expect, spotted Brentwood’s defensive lapses immediately and were soon through for the try. The conversion was scored to level things, 7 all.

And from then on things rapidly spiraled downhill. Everything seemed to be going against Brentwood and when Braintree got the ball they were looking increasingly dangerous whilst Brentwood were looking more and more lethargic with a ridiculous amount of ball being lost in contact. Braintree got their second try following what I can only describe as they biggest knock on you will ever see, it must only have gone 6 feet forward…but as they say play to the whistle and Braintree did. One tapped penalty to Braintree later and they’d scored. The conversion was spot on from wide out, 14-7 Braintree.

I’m not completely sure what happened following this since after the “Penalty advantage Brentwood”, ball gets passed straight over fly half’s head and bounces down the pitch, “Advantage over” fiasco which ensued shortly after the try I may have flung my note pad at my mother and refused to write anything else. To be honest what I do remember wasn’t great and even resident Mr Angry, Del, was angrier than I’ve ever seen him. But as the French would say, c’est la vie. Or as the Spanish might say qué será, sera…I’m clutching at straws now aren’t I? Here’s hoping Brentwood turn up against Barking or league relegation is beckoning.

Lastly I would like to reassure readers that following last weeks niceties towards Billy William won’t be let near the match report again any time soon (unless I slope off to see Wasps again…).