Brentwood U17s 25 Harpenden U17s 7

Brentwood advance in Nationals campaign…

Brentwood arrived at Harpenden on a breezy but bright morning looking to put last week’s game well out of mind. Brentwood had only previously played Harpenden on tour a couple of years ago, I think it was the one where Macarena haka occurred (the less said about that the better…) and so no one really knew quite what to expect but since this was now nationals it wasn’t going to be easy!

The game was played on Harpenden’s main pitch, right in front of a ‘grandstand’ of sorts, which was frankly wonderful since it meant a seat and a completely unobscured view of the entire game for your roving reporter. What are our chances of ever getting one at Brentwood? Sorry, the game…Brentwood had the wind in their favour in the first half and started strongly from the first whistle. As soon as the kick off had landed in the arms of a Harpenden player Brentwood’s defence swarmed aggressively and piled through, driving Harpenden further and further back. This eventually culminated in a penalty for Brentwood but the attempt at goal was pulled away by the wind.

Brentwood continued to press but weren’t taking the opportunities they had, despite being in the Harpenden half for long periods of time they failed to score any points and admittedly I was concerned. Especially when from a scrum in their own half Harpenden set off on a quite spectacular break and absolutely tore up Brentwood’s thus far water tight defence. From a Brentwood point of view there probably wasn’t too much they could have done to defend it, the support lines from Harpenden were excellent and had Brentwood players running around in rings trying to prevent the try. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be and Harpenden scorched in under the posts, the drop kicked conversion (come on now, that’s just being flashy!) giving them a 7-0 lead.

This seemed to give Brentwood the spur they needed to find that clinical edge as they soon crashed into Harpenden’s half again. Added to the given crash and physicality that always comes with Brentwood was also some nice rugby. Charlie and Sam Fry setting up a lovely move which was continued by Chris Doble and Will (on the wing…) and culminated in a penalty 5 metres out for Brentwood. The wind was still being a nuisance so the scrum was opted for. The ball was crashed up off the base, which drew in sufficient defenders for quick hands to get the ball to Chris Doble, who was doing the equivalent of goal hanging out on the wing, for him to squeeze in at the corner. The conversion, unsurprisingly, missed. 7-5 Harpenden.

Brentwood were now buoyant. Mikey was having a cracking game at scrum half, with some sniping runs, good passing and cunning kicks keeping Harpenden guessing and his forwards were providing great go forward and quick ball nearly all the time. This encouraged Brentwood to actually play some, dare I say it, pretty rugby. Sam Fry and Chris Doble were again heavily involved, this time with Luke, in a nice move which saw Brentwood’s final pass just being called as forward. Play was called back to a Brentwood penalty for which advantage had been being played, with half time looming Charlie took the attempt at goal and nailed it, giving Brentwood a slender 8-7 lead at the interval.

Playing into the wind in the second half Brentwood were going to have to keep the ball in hand a bit more and showed their intent straight from the 2^nd half kick off, going through the phases to make their way into the Harpenden half, then 22 and finally to be given held up over he line. Fortunate for me really, with the mass of bodies over the try line I’d never have been able to identify a try scorer…From the resulting scrum the backs were trusted with the ball, Roland taking a short pop pass to cruise through a gap and over the line. Which only set the mothers off again on the ‘Roland’s thighs’ topic, still the talk of the touchline several months on! The conversion missed, 13-7 Brentwood.

Brentwood were starting to get that unstoppable look about them, with the forwards now dominant in contact, Carl having a particularly strong influence in most rucks and Matt Whaley at his invisible to the untrained eye but absolutely everywhere on the pitch best. Heck, even Billy was winning the odd bit of ball at the lineout! From another strong forward surge Mikey set off on a darting run up the wing, drawing enough defenders to allow Sam Fry a bit of room to ride a tackle and go over in the corner for Brentwood’s third. Charlie bisected the posts perfectly with his most difficult kick attempt of the day, 20-7 Brentwood.

Despite the score line being relatively comfortable for Brentwood, Harpenden were still battling and proving to be difficult opposition in what was a thoroughly bruising encounter. Brentwood had a lot of defending to do as Harpenden sent wave after wave of attack but the defence just about held firm, albeit with a few close moments!

Brentwood’s icing on the cake came when the ball was turned from another Harpenden attack and Charlie sent a kick spiraling downfield. Joel was quick in pursuit of it and put sufficient pressure on to cause a bad clearing kick from Harpenden. The ball was crashed up the middle and quickly out to Matt Smith who made ground before giving it to Sam Fry and again the ball was held up over the line as the forwards piled through. The resulting 5 metre scrum saw Chris Doble crash over for his second and seal Brentwood’s win. The conversion missed, 25-7 Brentwood.

A great game from Brentwood, dispelling last week’s demons and proving that on their day the boys are pretty handy rugby players!