10th September 2016 Ruislip RFC 7 - Brentwood RFC 30: London 1 North

10th September 2016 Ruislip RFC 7 - Brentwood RFC 30: London 1 North

On a wet and windy afternoon in Ruislip, Brentwood put on a great display of forward play to comfortably beat Ruislip by 7-30 and make amends for the disappointing home defeat last week at the hands of Chingford.

From the kick off, a strong run by scrum half Harry Chambers put Brentwood into a good attacking position and from the resulting ruck, second row Tom King picked up and powered over for a first minute try which was not converted by Bird.

The strong cross wind and constant rain made handling and running rugby difficult and both sides resorted to kicking for territory. After 20 minutes, an excellent Bird penalty put Brentwood into the right hand corner close to the Ruislip line. Brentwood won their line out cleanly and set up a rolling maul from which captain Josh Woodcock scored the second Brentwood try. Again, Bird failed with his difficult conversion attempt.

Fly half Tom Simpson was yellow carded by the referee for a tackling infringement and while Brentwood were adjusting, Ruislip enjoyed a rare period of possession. A run by their excellent scrum half ended with the home team’s only try which was touched down in the corner by their right winger and impressively converted by the man who started the move. Ruislip were briefly back in the game at 7-10 with 25 minutes played.

Brentwood responded with more strong forward pressure and a defensive kick by the hard pressed Ruislip side was caught and returned with interest by winger Josh Stannard. Brentwood recycled the ball and scored a third forward’s try, this time from prop Lewis Pratley. Again, Bird’s kick went wide.

The fourth Brentwood try after 35 minutes followed another well placed Bird penalty, this time into the left hand corner. The resulting line out catch and drive was stopped just short of the Ruislip line, but relentless Brentwood pressure delivered the ball back to skipper Woodcock who powered over for his second try of the match which was not converted.

The half time score at 7-20 reflected Brentwood’s dominance.

The second half started with a prolonged spell of scrappy play with a string of player substitutions and the continuing wind and rain making cohesive rugby difficult. Brentwood’s continuing forward dominance prevented Ruislip from threatening any sort of a recovery and after 17 minutes, Brentwood had Ruislip under heavy pressure in their 22. A 5 meter scrum led to what
seemed like an inevitable push over try by Brentwood’s dominant pack, this time it was number 8 Billy Aldous who touched the ball down. Bird continued his off day with his conversion attempts.

Brentwood’s sixth and final try of the day came from another strong forward run from Stannard after 38 minutes of the second half. The ball was passed along the line and found Bird wide on the right touch line who duly touched down in the corner. The scorer’s disappointing goal kicking day continued.

The 7-30 final score marked what was Brentwood’s second win away at Ruislip in sixteen visits and the resulting five league points sees Brentwood in seventh place in London 1 North after two games. Brentwood’s man of the match award was shared by scrum half Harry Chambers and skipper Josh Woodcock.

The Brentwood team was K Scurr, L Payne, L Pratley, J Woodcock (capt), T King, B Aldous, J Vogel, B Amato, H Chambers, T Simpson, A Thomas, H Bird, J Stannard, E Greenfield, and D Gillet, Subs J Metcalfe, J Richards and C Chambers.

Next week, Brentwood are playing undefeated league newcomers Fullerians at King Georges. Kick off is at 3.00pm.