Brentwood U17s 41 Rochford U17s 17

Brentwood off to a flying start…

Thinking about it, to say Brentwood got off to a flying start is slightly misleading they were, as ever, napping at kick off. Some things never change hey. Almost immediately the ball was cleared to touch by Brentwood and Rochford set about using the new ELVs (Experimental Law Variations not small creatures who help Father Christmas) to their advantage, taking the lineout quickly and backwards (for further ELV info, please see the end of this report) leaving Brentwood’s defence in disarray as they’d expected the lineout. The result was first blood to Rochford as they ran in a try and converted. 7-0 Rochford.

This though gave Brentwood the kick start they needed. Immediately they responded positively, smashing the Rochford player at the restart and turning the ball over. The ball was put out to Jake who broke through several tackles to scoot in under the posts. Charlie knocked the conversions over, 7 all.

Brentwood ’s play was bruising. The forwards were looking particularly powerful and forcing turnovers aplenty with good counter rucking, the net result being Jonny charging in at the corner. The conversion just missed, 12-7 Brentwood.

Brentwood ’s next score came from Joel making a good burst down the wing, and although he was put into touch Billy somehow miraculously managed to nick the lineout ball. It was swiftly out to Charlie at fly half who made a lovely run and timed a nice offload to Jonny. Jonny, sensing his second, surged for the try line but just got caught short, however disappointing as it may have been he popped the ball back up for Charlie who had followed on in support and finished the move off. The conversion missed, 17-5 Brentwood.

Brentwood continued to play well, more good rucking from the forwards saw the ball turned over yet again and some swift hands, yes it seems they’ve even learnt to pass, put Chris Doble over in the corner. The conversion missed, 22-7 Brentwood.

Brentwood were now pulling out all the stops and were looking impressive going forward. A spectacularly flashy lineout move very nearly came off whereby Chris Doble ran down the 5 metre channel to receive the ball however there were varying jeers from the bench and “The white line means you’re out!” when he ran straight into touch…Despite this Brentwood were at this point pretty dominant in most facets of play and when the Rochford lineout was pressured the loose ball was scooped up by Jake who had a free run in under the posts again. Adam knocked the conversion over, 29-7 Brentwood and half time.

Somewhat amazingly Brentwood didn’t have their customary period of madness at the beginning of the second half and did in fact just pick up again from where they left off. Following a period of concerted pressure in the Rochford 22, kept out only by some brave defence from Rochford, Brentwood managed to work and overlap. Yes you did read that correctly, they worked and overlap, and better still they scored from it! James was the winger who went over in the corner for the score. The conversion missed, 34-7 Brentwood.

Brentwood collectively conspired to score the next try too. Except it was for Rochford. Closer to an ‘own try’ I don’t think you will ever see. A good Rochford touch finder had landed just outside their own 22 and Brentwood themselves decided they’d try and use the ELVs to their advantage, Rob opting to take the quick lineout backward to Luke. Except Luke was playing for Rochford. He went over for the score and is now on -1 for the season’s try count. The conversion missed to cries of “Get the one in the pink boots!” 34-12 Brentwood.

The main object of Brentwood’s game for a period became ‘smash Luke’ rather than play rugby and as a result it all got a bit messy with as many people flying into rucks as they could if Luke happened to be at the bottom. And it was easy to tell if he was, those pink boots give you away! In amongst all this Chris McCarthy managed to nab the ball from somewhere and come away with a try. The conversion from Charlie, I think, I haven’t written it down so I apologise for my slacking, was on target. 41-12 Brentwood.

Rochford, now having borrowed Jake, were searching for one final score and when Jake made a slashing run through Brentwood’s defence to yet more boos from the bench the Brentwood players on the field were too busy leaping on him to remember you can’t dive head first into rucks and consequently conceded a penalty. Rochford had their wits about them and tapped quickly, the result being a deserved score in the corner. The conversion missed, 41-17 Brentwood which is how the score remained until full time moments later. A good start to the season from the boys, especially when you consider quite how dire they looked up in a warm up match last weekend!

Finally, a special feature this week (partly to save me having to explain on the touchline every week)

The Mum’s Guide to the ELVs (Of course if you’re a Dad and you don’t get them please feel free to read, we won’t judge…)

The ELVs are the Experimental Law Variations. They are slight changes to the game bought in mainly by the idiots in the Southern Hemisphere because they want to change the game so England don’t keep doing well in World Cups. (Or something like that. Perhaps here I should put one of those ‘the views of the match reporter do not necessarily reflect those of the rest of Brentwood RFC’ before men in white coats come and remove us all…)

As U17s is still youth level rugby we only have a few of these variations (thankfully) the main ones being:
1. the ball can’t be passed back into the 22 and kicked directly to touch.

Whether you were aware of this or not previously if, for example, the fly half stood in his 22 when there was a ruck outside of it the scrum half could pass straight back to him and he would be able to kick it straight into touch (it didn’t have to bounce and could go straight over the line), the lineout would then be taken from there. However now the ball can only be kicked directly into touch when the opposing team either take the ball or kick the ball into the 22. If the ball is passed back and kicked directly into touch, or ‘out on the full’, the lineout will be taken level with where the kick was made.

2. The offside line at the scrum is now 5 metres back. This means we will almost certainly concede a try from a 5 metre scrum at some point this season. Essentially this rule means that the backs now have to stand 5 metres away from the scrum rather than level with the feet of the number 8. This could make it harder to defend; conversely it could make it easier to attack. Depends if you’re a glass half full or glass half empty kind of person.

3. A quick lineout does not have to be straight. Again, whether or not you were aware, the old rule was that the lineout had to be thrown straight, whether it was quick or a full lineout. At a quick lineout the ball can now go as far backwards as the team wish. The rule that to take a quick lineout the ball must not be touched by anyone other than the players taking the lineout still applies. For example the ball could not hit a spectator and a quick lineout still be taken.

4. There is no limit on the number of players in the lineout. This means firstly there will be no giving away free kicks because we can’t count as numbers are now no longer decided by whichever team throwing the ball in. It also means should we want to put the entire team in the lineout again (see tour report for reference) then we can.

5. Lifting is now permitted in the lineout. You might think that this was already true but supposedly those lifting in the lineout were only ever ‘supporting’ the player who ‘jumped’ about four foot in the air. So this isn’t really a change, just a rewording.