Brentwood U15s 5 Medway U15s 52

Brentwood on the wrong end of a big score line…

As the thunder rumbled overhead it could have been a scene from a horror film. As it was the Brentwood v Medway match, was a slight horror in itself.

The game started brightly for Brentwood, having most of the territory and possession and generally playing quite well. Adam, using the wind to his advantage was putting in some probing kicks, defence was good and the forwards were working hard. However, there was the same problem as in the Woodford game with the ball not going wide when it needed too and two clear overlaps being butchered, one a four on nothing.

In stark contrast, in what was really the first time Medway got the ball in an attacking position, the ball was spread wide when there was sufficient space and resulted in a Medway player going over and running round under the posts to score. The conversion was good, 7-0 Medway.

Brentwood piled on the pressure but yet again their finishing just wasn’t clinical enough, too much try line fever when intelligent thinking needed to be used.

The next blow came from a scrum. The Medway fly half sliced through the Brentwood defence and despite a great tackle from Roland managed to offload to a supporting man who went under the sticks. The wind caught the conversion and it missed, 12-0 Medway.

The next passage of play again saw Brentwood with most of the possession and territory. A huge tackle was made on Roland, if they were on the receiving end of a tackle such as this one the vast majority of players would not get up for a while, but not Roland who never ceases to amaze spectators. With a slight shrug of the shoulders he got up, having not been held, and went back for seconds! Roland, do you not feel pain? Finally the possession and territory Brentwood had told as Jake managed to squeeze over in the corner. In windy conditions, Adam’s conversion just missed, 12-5 to Medway with half time following shortly after.

The second half started exactly how Brentwood didn’t want it to. Medway collected the ball from the restart and went straight under the posts to score. The conversion was also good, 19-5 to Medway.

From then on every time Medway got the ball you expected them to score. They began to break the defence with ease in the centres and ran straight through several tackles to score again and convert, 26-5.

Another turn over in Medway’s favour signalled their next try and despite the conversion missing the score was still 31-5 and an impossible mountain to climb for Brentwood.

When the rub of the green also started going Medway’s way it was game over. A dropped pass fro Medway went backwards and was hacked on and Medway were under the posts again. It was converted, 38-5.

Despite this and the inevitable loss looming the Brentwood boys still had a never say die attitude, especially William and Billy who could be heard rallying the team, telling them to show Medway what they were made of.

Unfortunately with Brentwood’s energy now draining and Medway beginning to really motor, more missed tackles saw Medway score again and then again from the following restart. Their last conversion was the end of the game, 52-5 to Medway at full time.

Although the score wasn’t flattering there are positives to take from this game, the first half performance was good and the effort from most players immense with the halfbacks functioning well. A lot can also be learnt from this game, especially the need to spread the ball wide at the right time. Fair play to Medway for being good winners and also to the Brentwood boys for not being sore losers. Hopefully lessons can be learnt from this game and play will be better against Thurrock in the Essex Cup next Sunday.