Brentwood made their first ever visit to Cow Lane sitting at the top of London 1 North. Having only lost one game all season to take on Tring, a side who were relegated last season from National League 3 only because of their inferior points differential, having finished on the same number of points as Westcliff.

Brentwood kicked of playing up the slope and against a fierce north wind. Within 5 minutes they found themselves 10 -0 down after Tring had slotted over an early penalty and raced away to score a converted try after a promising Brentwood attack had broken down in the opposition 22, when a pass had not gone to hand and Tring pounced on the loose ball launching an immediate counter attack.

The away side, had territorial advantage for most of the remainder of the half but, all they had to show for their efforts was a try scored by Tom Simpson after the ball was moved quickly through the backs. Other scoring opportunities were created but the final pass was either poor or dropped and with Tring always prepared to play an open and expansive game, counter attacking at every opportunity, Brentwood’s control of the game evaporated.
Towards the end of the half Tring scored a further penalty, taking the half time score to 13 – 5.

With the slope now in their favour, the expectation was that Brentwood would have territorial advantage in the second half. This did not prove to be the case and the commitment and energy that had been a feature of earlier games this season was lacking. Tring began to dominate the match with their dangerous number 8 leading the charge. They scored two further tries in this half both of which were converted. In response, Henry Bird converted two penalties for Brentwood and Terry Snooks scored a try after excellent work by the forwards but this was all too little too late to bring Brentwood back into the game.

All in all a very disappointing day for the club, which sees them drop to second in the table on 39 points from 10 games, three points behind the new leaders Amersham & Chiltern. Brentwood will be hoping to get back to winning ways, next week when they have a difficult home game against old rivals Chelmsford before travelling to Amersham and Chiltern the week after.

The Chigwell Construction man of the match was the Brentwood number 7, 42 years young and still tackling like a demon.

On a far more positive note the Brentwood under 18 side had an excellent game playing Bishop Stortford last Sunday winning 41 – 12 in the National Cup. They advance to round 4 (the round of 32 teams).