Match report – Sunday 21st February 2016

Braintree Academy v Brentwood (home) – Lost 5-7

On a very windy day Braintree entertained Brentwood, who for the past couple of seasons have proved to be very strong opposition. Kicking off with the wind Braintree knew they needed to take the game to Brentwood from the off and immediately forced a knock-on. For safety reasons the game was to be played with uncontested scrums and the first put-in went to Braintree. After a couple of penalties Braintree had a line-out in the Brentwood 22 but were not able to control the ball in the wind and Brentwood cleared. Both sides experienced difficulty at the line-out before Braintree had a scrum and moved the ball quickly down the line but not for the first time infringed at the breakdown allowing Brentwood to kick to touch. Braintree won the ball from a line-out and moved it to Henry Irving but the ball ended up in touch. Brentwood were to have trouble with the line-out all day and another messy completion led to a Braintree scrum. Josh Wadforth attacked with a chip and chase, and from the next scrum Cameron Kerr was just held up over the line.

Brentwood cleared but Braintree came back through another successful line-out, keeping Brentwood pinned in their 22. They cleared long but Dan Smith brought play back into the Brentwood half. The wind was making handling difficult and a series of scrums to both sides followed. The strength of the wind was demonstrated when, after 14 minutes, Braintree kicked for touch and the ball went dead for a Brentwood scrum back on half-way.

Brentwood now launched their first real attack of the game, breaking through the midfield and getting into the Braintree 22. From a Brentwood scrum 5 metres from the Braintree line, not for the last time during the game, the Brentwood fly-half cut back and was well tackled by Dylan Moss and Rehan Nel. Brentwood maintained the pressure and went over the line from a scrum only to be held up by Will Turner. From another scrum the number 8 broke on the open side and was held up over the line, this time by Rehan.

Braintree made a series of replacements, Jack Munro for Rehan, Tom Burdge for Dylan, Jamie Martin for Connor McIntosh and Ben Rose for Rhys Bolton which did nothing to weaken the defensive effort, Braintree forcing a knock-on and a long clearance kick from the scrum. Brentwood’s left wing ran the ball back only to be met by a fine tackle from Henry. After 27 minutes Billy Carroll was replaced by Alex Eveleigh and Dan Smith by Rhys.

Braintree were now back in the Brentwood 22 only for their line-out to fail at the crucial moment allowing Brentwood some temporary relief. Braintree pressure resulted in a Brentwood 22 drop-out, Jamie caught the ball and put up a high kick which was excellently marked by the Brentwood full-back. Braintree won the line-out through Cameron Laudrum, Tom Burdge charged, then a mistake in the Braintree midfield allowed Brentwood to get into the Braintree 22. From a scrum the flanker broke blind but was held up. Braintree took the next scrum but the referee adjudged Braintree to have deliberately passed into touch, conceding a penalty. However, the defensive effort remained strong, Tom Burdge again prominent and Braintree saw out the scoreless first half, not something one has been accustomed to saying when playing Brentwood in the past.

However, the second half promised to be even harder as Braintree knew they had to play into the fierce wind. Dylan Moss replaced Cameron Kerr and Brentwood kicked off. Following some indecisive play the Brentwood fly-half was stripped of the ball but Braintree couldn’t capitalise. A series of knock-ons and scrums followed. Brentwood lost a line-out due to Jack Edwards’ efforts, but regained possession and launched an attack to get within 5 metres of Braintree’s try line. Braintree had the scrum put-in and Josh executed a low clearing kick, but Brentwood came straight back, won a messy line-out and attacked reaching the right hand corner where they were adjudged not to have grounded the ball properly.

Soon afterwards Brentwood again lost a line-out allowing Jamie to break and a penalty meant a line-out on the Brentwood 22. Dylan was prominent and eventually held up over the line. Braintree’s pressure was starting to tell when, after 14 minutes of the second half, the Brentwood wing was yellow-carded for repeated infringements at the breakdown. Could Braintree make this numerical advantage tell? Braintree took the penalty quickly, ran right and Alex Eveleigh broke through several tackles to score. Unfortunately Josh could not convert into the wind so the score was 5-0 after 15 minutes of the second half.

Brentwood kicked off and lost the next couple of line-outs but then ran a penalty. Fortunately the Brentwood fly-half again chose to run into contact and Braintree’s defence held out. Cameron Kerr replaced Cameron Laudrum and Brentwood also made some replacements. Brentwood were now in the Braintree 22, the fly-half again ran into contact (!), but from the next scrum Braintree fell asleep and allowed the scrum half to waltz in unopposed from the 22 metre line. The kick was a formality for a 5-7 lead after 24 minutes of the second half.

Braintree kicked off but were soon back in their half, courtesy of the wind. Michael Lawrence came on for Rehan. Jack Munro, now at full-back, brought back a long kick ahead, Josh instigated a kick and chase and Dylan made one of his characteristic charges. Shortly afterwards Josh was replaced by Cameron Laudrum, who moved to the left wing, Connor taking up the role of fly-half. A series of scrums and knock-ons followed until Braintree had a couple of penalties which were taken quickly, getting into Brentwood’s half. Pressure forced Brentwood to concede another penalty and Braintree kicked for a line-out on the 22 which was won. Michael had a charge, followed by Jamie and Jack Edwards. Jamie came sniping once more but Braintree’s last act was to concede a penalty allowing the referee to blow for full-time and very much a case of ‘ut desint vires, tamen est laudanda voluntas’. Our thanks to Keith Pickles for refereeing today’s contest.

Squad: Will Turner, Ben Jones, Michael Lawrence, Jack Edwards, Rehan Nel, Dylan Moss, Cameron Laudrum, Cameron Kerr, Connor McIntosh, Josh Wadforth (c), Rhys Bolton, Billy Carroll, Joe Meade, Henry Irving, Dan Smith, Jack Munro, Tom Burdge, Jamie Martin, Alex Eveleigh, Ben Rose.

Tea report. Never one to shirk his duties to the team injured Will Lawrence came along to ensure a tea report was filed: a dish of sweet and sour chicken with rice was served in copious quantities, although the rice was a little hard. For dessert we had apple crumble and custard; the crumble was ‘lovely’ and the custard was of good quality. A potential 3 stars for a tasty main course, extras and a pudding, with a minor deduction for the rice results in a score of 2 and half stars!