Brentwood U15s 20 Thurrock U15s 12

Brentwood bounce back…

Brentwood started under pressure, perhaps a better sign than when they start well judging by recent performances! It didn’t take long however for them to pull it together with the forwards doing well. The ball was also spread wide (has the message finally got through?) And some good width very nearly saw Brentwood exploit the space and score until a pass was dropped. The pressure from Brentwood continued until Adam put through a beautifully weighted grubber kick, which Sam Fry pounced on to score. The conversion missed, 5-0 Brentwood.

Not long after Thurrock were down on the Brentwood try line. Brentwood turned the ball over but the clearance kick was charged down. It bounced favourably for Thurrock and was dived on. The try was awarded but the conversion missed and scores were level at 5 all.

Brentwood were next to score. William nicked the ball from a Thurrock maul and found James who made yards down the middle with first Carl and then Sam Morgan carrying on the move with some smashing breaks which saw Sam end just short of the try line.

Elliot picked up from the base of the ruck and did his best Matt Dawson impression (no I don’t mean he put on a pink shirt and did the cha cha cha) ducking under a few tackles and worming his way through the forward traffic to sneak over. The conversion was just wide, 10-5 to Brentwood.

For the remainder of the half Brentwood continued to pressurise, handling being much improved from the previous weeks, although the two best passes were from props William and Carl, maybe they should coach the backs!

The second half saw Brentwood start off by mauling to within inches of the line. As Thurrock had originally taken the ball in, Brentwood had the put in to a five-metre scrum. From the scrum the ball was crashed up in the centres, which opened some space up on the left allowing Chris McCarthy to sidestep the last man and race into the corner. I’m not sure what’s more remarkable, the fact that the forwards can not only pass but sidestep too or that Chris had the pace to finish! The conversion missed, 15-5 to Brentwood.

Next, however, Brentwood proceeded to have their mad five minutes where they suddenly seem to nod off. Play began to get very scrappy and Thurrock took control, managing to squeeze over in the corner. The conversion was good, 15-12 to Brentwood and a nervy last ten minutes for the spectators!

Thankfully Brentwood woke up from their mad five minutes, and began continuing to pressurise Thurrock with good ground being made. Mauling was again very good and came to within inches of going over again but just ground to a halt and as Brentwood had taken the ball in the scrum was awarded to Thurrock. Despite it being a Thurrock put in the forwards put the shove on and the all was won against the head causing Thurrock to concede a penalty five metres out. Michael took his position by the mark to tap the penalty with the Thurrock players convinced it was going to ‘the big lumps’ of Carl, Rob and James who were standing as if one was going to take it and the other two were going to bundle him over. Because of this they were incredibly surprised when the ball went to resident Action Man Sam Morgan who got incredibly low and crashed over unaided. The conversion narrowly missed, 20-12 Brentwood.

The rest of the half seemed to last forever. The game looked like it was going to be wrapped up when Jordan broke down the touchline, was tackled by the last man and had William in support. Yes William. I personally think he was still retreating from a previous play! However the pass was adjudged to be forward.

After conceding many penalties the half was finally over and the full time whistle blown, 20-12 to Brentwood. Pete summed up the mood nicely when he said “Oh thank god for that!”