Braintree Social Team Vs Bury St Edmunds 4th Team 4/9/2021
On the 4th of September the brave men of Braintree Social Team prepared for another epic battle with Bury St Edmunds 4th Team. With a team made up of the young sprightly but inexperienced and the old broken and exhausted, the spirit was strong. We were joined by some friends from Kelvedon Rugby club to add some steel to our ranks and even one man who has played for every club within 20 miles of Braintree and has run out of clubs to be put before his nickname of scum!
With this motley crew expertly managed by the effervescent Craig Budd, ensuring against all odds we always had fifteen men on the field, we exploded on to the second team pitch. The warmup had been strong, with most of our team being able to avoid the significant build up of canine leftovers that had been deposited across our 22. This meant that when the taped up, strapped down and oldy shaped boots hit the hallowed green grass of the pitch we were all ready to project our rugby spirit on to our opponents.
The game started slowly with the opponents opening the scoring cutting through our defence, with the experience of a well drilled team. It then became a tit for tat affair with strong runners from both teams breaking through and tries being scored.
As we moved to the second half Braintree had established dominance in the scrum and oh how we had welcomed a return to competitive scrummaging. A collection of eight men, even with rotation pushed Bury St Edmunds back and won a number of penalties and turnovers. The collective of spirit of eight men pushing with a shared goal to achieve one aim was a joy to be seen and be a part of.
In a high scoring game, Braintree try scorers deserve a mention, particularly with a combined age of 132 there was clearly a need for experience on this day over the wispier whims of youth. The first Braintree try was an expertly executed quick penalty by our erstwhile 10 Gunner. Despite spending most of the morning and the preceding months telling us he wasn’t a 10, he ejaculated away from the mark, like the strongest swimmer in the pack and crossed the line.
The second try was a triumph of welsh bred brawn over the more rarefied Suffolk defensive line. A smart pick and go from the base of a ruck, with Kev crashing over the line with all the pace and power of a rampaging rhino. Our erstwhile scrum half had a momentary complaint that he had been removed from the ball in a rather industrial fashion but finally acknowledged that Kev was the man for the job.
The third try was expertly executed by the author of this report, so may feature some bias. Taking a beautifully weighted pass from a Kelvedon friend on the halfway line (I am pretty sure that’s where it began, honest) an epic footrace ensued. Having been reliably informed that the try scorer sprinted away looking and sounding like Alan Partridge, 5 metres before the line he was closed down by the young number 15. At the point of exhaustion and cries from the crowd (again this could be all in the authors head) the redoubtable captain stopped and tried to execute a handoff and it worked! Run in beneath the posts and with half a lung left somewhere on the 22 the try was complete.
Honourable mentions to Ray West (no relation) who free of defenders and in clear sight of the line somehow managed to fall over his own feet and not complete the try.
So the final score remained elusive and we know Braintree Social came second. However, all could agree that on this day Rugby won. A huge thankyou to our great friends at Bury St Edmunds and we look forward to the return fixture next week.

Jim