Brentwood U17s 27 Chingford U17s 7

Where are the real Brentwood and what have you done with them?

There are many mysteries in life, like why are we always on the furthest pitch from the clubhouse, how did Roland’s thighs get quite that large and who exactly did Kevin mug for that first aid badge? But the most pressing of all is where are the real U17s?

As many an exasperated Brentwood spectator will know the boys are notoriously slow starters so when Matt Whaley was scoring in the corner with barely moments of the game gone it was perfectly reasonable to be somewhat confused. The conversion missed but an explosive start nonetheless, 5-0 Brentwood.

And they carried on playing well too. There was previously unseen patience in retaining the ball and going through the phases and after a period of pressure Chingford’s defence was finally snapped by Roland and his now urban legend thighs as they barrelled over the line, the conversion missed (so yes Charlie I did note your two missed kicks as you requested), 10-0 Brentwood.

Chingford, as you would expect, came back strongly from Brentwood’s quick fire start and piled on the pressure but Brentwood defended exceptionally. I nearly typed pathetically there through habit…yet another reason to suspicious as to whether these are really our U17s. Jake was tackling like a man possessed and Pratley was slowing ball down wonderfully and legally with some immense counter rucking, the sheer size of him driving through the middle taking 3 Chingford players out at a time. Brentwood continued to absorb waves of pressure until just before half time when Chingford found a slight chink in the defence but Matt was on hand to just about stop him scoring, crucially giving Brentwood a 10-0 half time lead.

The second half started well again for Brentwood when they won a scrum against the head and set off on a good counter attack with the forwards and backs linking well and showing good hands to put Matt Gray over in the corner for what was a well worked try. The conversion missed, 15-0 Brentwood.

And then Billy dropped the restart. So some things do remain consistent. Chingford re gathered and again set about applying pressure, working the ball left and right for a long period of time. Brentwood defended well but eventually something had to give, Chingford scoring their first try of the game and converting too, 15-7 Brentwood.

When faced with this slight dilemma Brentwood reverted to the brute force of their forwards to smash into Chingford time and time again. Rather them than me. It all got a bit sloppy at times but importantly Brentwood retained possession and edged their way towards the try line where someone, believed to be Chris McCarthy, scrambled over from a few millimetres out. Charlie avoided his 3^rd miss by knocking over the conversion, 22-7 Brentwood.

The try lifted Brentwood again and so the backs were allowed to touch the ball again, Charlie put the pressure on by poking a kick toward the corner which stopped perfectly meaning Chingford had to clear. The net gain was a lineout to Brentwood just inside the Chingford 22. The ball went to the front jumper, might have been Billy in fact, who threw it off the top to the charging Chris McCarthy who went hurtling down the 5 metre channel and mowed over the winger. The ball was recycled at lightening speed and Ollie was on hand to go over for the score. The conversion missed, 27-7 to Brentwood and apparently that lineout move has taken 6 attempts to work and will never work again.

Full time followed shortly after and a good win for Brentwood. If they really are Brentwood. Even Ian only said stupid 20 times in the post match chat as opposed to the usual 400 times or so. Hopefully this form can be taken into the game with Thurrock next weekend, even if it is all a bit suspicious…