Captains Report
On the Sunday we had a great opportunity to play on Cardiff Arms Park it was perfect conditions on the artificial pitch. We played some great running rugby using the width of the pitch. We played St Peters which had some good fast players that we had to shut down before they got too much room to run. We also had to be quick to the break downs as they were a very good side at getting over on the ball. Overall we had a great game and that everyone should of been proud of.

Overall thanks for everyone making it such a great tour with a great bunch of mates.

Jack

Roving reporter Dave Walker
After white water rafting, little sleep and lots of sweets!! the bleary-eyed boys were back on the coach Sunday morning bound for Cardiff Arms Park (home of the Cardiff Blues) for their clash with the very well-respected Welsh side St Peters. Changing in the Cardiff Blues first team changing rooms, where legendary Blues players Sam Warburton and Gethin Jenkins have sat, the boys were a little nervous. A rousing team talk from Don and Nigel fired the boys up and after running on to the pitch though the players tunnel the boys were raring to play on the beautiful 4G pitch. From the kick off Braintree generated quick defensive line speed and put St Peters under pressure – especially in the mid field where the pass out wide was stopped. St Peters made a couple of early break away attempts but good cover tackles and resulting turnovers saw Braintree secure the ball and eventually Callum Smit broke through and scored straight under the posts and Harvey converted. Continued pressure from the restart with good ball distribution out wide saw Copper Baker run in after 16 mins with Harvey missing the difficult conversion out wide. From a solid scrum just in our own half, prop Ben Collar make a great 4th phase burst on a fantastic line to get over the gain line and deliver a great offload to full back Mclagan, who ran the ball into the corner and touched down under the posts on 26 mins. Harvey converted in front of the posts 21-0 - the visitors were flying! St Peters came back strongly in the second half but first blood was to Braintree. Harry P on a strong run, brushing welsh players aside scored under the posts after just 3 mins. Harvey pulled the conversion just wide. St Peter’s dug deep and with some determined running put a converted try on the board. Jack Curtis Evans then went in under the posts for Braintree after some lovely ball movement out wide. From the restart saw some controversy when after what looked to be an innocuous ruck the ref blew up and awarded Harvey a yellow card and thus 10 mins on the naughty step. Harvey felt he kicked the ball from the ruck but the ref interpreted it totally differently. This put Braintree under pressure and St Peters fast, slight of foot, winger ran around a tired Braintree backline and went under the posts. Undeterred Braintree pressured their catcher from the restart, who split the ball forwards, and in a training ground move Jack Brand picked from the base of the resulting scrum and with Oli Kempster on a loop created an overlap. Great handling through the back line saw the ball moved quickly to Jack Curtis Evans who went in on the left side to score. Oli missed the conversion from outwide. The final score 36-14 and a cracking second win for the visitors.

A fantastic effort from all the boys who were clearly tired after two nights without much sleep and way too much sugar and they should be very proud of some of the comments from both the officials and the other age group coaches who praised both individuals and the team for some fantastic rugby. Well done boys – very proud coaches!!