BRAINTREE...42 PEGASUS PALMERIANS...14 (Canterbury Jack Essex League One)

BRAINTREE strengthened their grip at the top of Essex League One by notching up a fourth straight victory at Robbs Wood on Saturday.
Tree looked strong from the off and gave themselves a great platform to play from as both line-out and scrum performed well.
Having received kick-off ball and safely gathered a long kick to touch saw the hosts steal the ball at the first line-out.
They immediately executed a good catch and drive move which saw number eight Nick Spearman crash over after just three minutes.
Minutes later Tree extended their lead to 10-0 when fly-half Joss Adams collected the ball between the halfway line and the opposition 22 before jinking through a series of failed tackles to score.
Kicker Kyle Crush made it 13-0 on 16 minutes when he successfully scored a penalty awarded against the visitors for a high tackle.
Another infringement at a ruck a few moments later enabled Crush to kick another penalty to extend Tree’s lead to 16-0 before scoring as try of his own following a slick backs move. 21-0.
On 27 minutes prop Lloyd Hardin powered through the centre of the Pegasus defence to score a fourth try which was converted by that man Crush to give his side a 28-0 interval lead.
Pegasus came out strongly for the second half and caught Tree napping by gathering the re-start and running back to score a converted try courtesy of their left wing to reduce the arrears to 28-7.
It took Tree 10 minutes to shacke themselves back into life when a kick to touch from a penalty set up another good catch and drive move which was finished by flanker Lee Turner.
Crush’s conversion put Tree 35-7 in front and they extended their lead on the hour when their superior scrum won turn over ball as Pegasus pushed back.
Wing James Moore came inside looking for work and used his power to crash through under the posts for a try that was converted by Crush for a decisive 42-7 lead.
The game then lost a bit of its momentum as Pegasus ran out of front row replacements and the ref switched to uncontested scrums.
This finally allowed the visitors some guaranteed scrum ball and they made use of it to score a second try from a scrum on Tree’s five-metre line which they converted to make the score 42-14.
BRUFC Manager Brian Joslin said: “Four wins out of four is a great start for the boys and they’re all enjoying their rugby again.
“We got another bonus point which was a positive but the win could have been even greater if our discipline had been better.
“Too many times we incurred the wrath of the referee, which is an area we need to work on as I'm sure we'll meet stronger sides in this league who'll take advantage of poor discipline.
“Although we've won all of our games we still haven't clicked as a team for a full 80 minutes yet and I'm sure there's more to come from the boys.”

Tree return to Essex League One action in two weeks time when they travel east to face Maldon, who have also started the season well and will provide a stern test for Joslin’s men.

BRUFC: K Crush, J Moore, J Young, Evans, Crane, Adams, Aldridge (M Moore), Jones, Hardin, Fitzearle, Johnston, Turner (Meredith), Carslake, Spearman (K Joslin).