With the latest summer heat wave baking the ground earlier in the week having given way to a torrent of rain on Friday, the Brentwood pitch looked in perfect condition for the visit of newcomers Fullerians, following their back to back promotions. Such pedigree, together with an excellent start to life at level 6, with two impressive wins against Ruislip and Old Priorians, meant the Brentwood boys knew that a tough afternoon was ahead of them.
However, an excellent win themselves the previous week against Ruislip, an unchanged lineup and the bitter taste of the opening day home loss still lingering, ensured that Brentwood were very much ready for the battle.
The game started with Fullerians kicking off down the slope and despite their initial ascendency in the scrum, Brentwood had the best of the early exchanges as they worked their way up field and following excellent recycling by the forwards, a slick break by fly half, Tom Simpson, allowed Henry Bird to slice through the defence and score under the posts, making the conversion of his try a mere formality, easing Brentwood into a 7-0 lead.
This seemed to sting the visitors into life and once they made their way into the Brentwood 22, they encamped on the hosts try line and battered away with numerous 5m scrums for a seemingly unending 10 minutes. Desperate defence by the pack kept Fullerians out and eventually earned a 22m dropout. However, the keen eye of the excellent referee spotted a Brentwood player in front of the kicker and awarded a penalty on the Brentwood 22 to Fullerians, which they took quickly and after several phases, scored a try in the clubhouse corner. With the difficult conversion missed, the score was 7-5.
The remainder of the half played out with Brentwood attacking up the slope but with any scoring chances being undone by handling mistakes, poor decision making or Fullerians strong scrummaging, the half ended with the score still 7-5.
The Brentwood team went into the half-time break with the slightly premature “banter” ringing in their ears, but the calming words of the coaches gave them the tactical tweaks required in the second half and encouraged them to use their fitness and pace down the “hill” to take charge of the game.

It only took seven second half minutes before once again the Brentwood pack worked the ball through several phases and delivered quick clean ball to the backs who once again sliced through allowing Declan Gillett to score. With the conversion slotted once again by Henry Bird, the score extended to 14-5.
Young gun and academy product, Jack Richards, replaced the fleet footed Louie Payne at hooker and fresh from his morning 5K mud run, Charlie Chambers replaced Henry Bird. Slotting into fly half, allowed Josh Stannard to move into centre and the re jigged back line made an immediate effect, as Josh Stannard scythed through the Fullerians defence to score. The difficult conversion was missed by Charlie Chambers, leaving the score at 19-5.
The excellent back row of Billy Aldous, James Vogel and Ben Amato continued to dominate the breakdown resulting in further quick ball for the backs, gifting Declan Gillett, now on the wing, his second try of the afternoon and Brentwood the try bonus point. This time the difficult conversion was superbly kicked by Charlie Chambers and the score pushed onto 26-5.
The evergreen James Metcalfe, replaced Ben Amato, and the tries continued to rain down. The running lines, power and pace of the Brentwood ball carriers, produced a further four tries, initially helped by the sin binning of the visitors prop. Firstly Ed Greenfield scored, then Tom Simpson, now at fullback, dotted down, both tries were converted and the score reached 40-5.
Despite being back to full strength, Fullerians were unable to stop tries seven and eight being scored by Lewis Pratley, from an old fashioned but simple penalty move and, a second for josh Stannard, both expertly converted by Chambers.
The Brentwood team knew they had been in a tough game, but 47 unanswered points in the second half, ensured a pleasant evening in the clubhouse and was just reward for the hard yards put in during pre-season training.
The younger Chambers brother, scrum half Harry, was justly awarded the Davlav Man of the Match for his uncompromising display in both attack and defence.
Brentwoods 3rd XV team also played at home and welcomed the Writtle 2nd XV squad. Continuing their winning start to the season, this was an excellent display of dogged determination and teamwork winning the match 51-0.
The first team continue their league programme next Saturday with another home fixture against Old Priorians, kicking off at 3pm.