Saffron Walden 0 Brentwood 89 (London & South East Division: North 1) 11th November 2017

On a cold, still day Brentwood arrived in Saffron Walden buoyed by the tough win over North Walsham the previous week and confident of a good performance against a side who had put together a run of good results after losing their first 4 games this season. Charlie Chambers was again missing but Charlie Wilkinson was back in the squad after picking up an injury against Eton Manor and started on the bench, Ben Amato joining him with Matt Whaley starting at blindside, no changes in the backs however with Adam Thomas and Josh Stannard the starting centres.

Saffron Walden kicked off and Brentwood immediately put a number of phases together with good ground made by all carriers, Burr kicked deep, Brentwood stole the lineout and following a strong set of phases Matt Whaley took a pass and crashed over to put Brentwood ahead early. 2 minutes later Tom Simpson finished a nice move in the corner, both conversions missed and Brentwood led 10 – 0.
The pattern of play was then set and Brentwood dominated every part of the game, Adam Thomas intercepted a long pass and ran in a third try of the game but again the conversion was missed. Ed Hornby scored a lovely try, beating 3 players on the way and Josh Stannard got in on the act 3 minutes later with a fine fish, Chay Pollinger took over kicking duties and he put over a couple of nice conversions. With the forwards completely in control of both lineouts and scrums and winning regular ball against the head more tries looked inevitable and Paul Bradley scored two with typically powerful runs. Whaley scored his second of the game to put Brentwood in complete control at halftime.

H/T Saffron Walden 0 – 44 Brentwood

More of the same in the second half, Brentwood continued to dominate and, apart from a 5 minute spell of possession for the home side where they briefly visited the Brentwood 22, the vast majority of play was in and around the Walden 22 metre line. Thomas powered his way over after good work from Visser and White, lovely passing soon after between Burr and Thomas opened up a gap for Jack Richards and the hooker scored for the second game in a row. Wilkinson then replaced Thomas and he wasted no time in getting into the game, taking a nice pass from Burr to burst through and score under the posts, Pollinger converting both in a much improved second half kicking display. A poor clearance kick from a home scrum close to the try line was collected at full speed by Pollinger and he ran in untouched for a fine try, he repeated his effort 2 minutes later taking a long pass in his stride and finishing well from 40 metres out. Brentwood were in full flow now and looked capable of scoring with every possession, Ed Hornby collected a lovely cross field kick from Burr over his opposite number and scored the away side’s 14th try. The 15th was the best of the lot though, with time running out Josh Woodcock beat 3 players and offloaded to White, 4 quick intricate passes later the ball was in the hands of Paul Bradley who powered over in his usual style to bring up his hattrick and quite rightly earn him the Man of the Match award.

F/T Saffron Walden 0 – 89 Brentwood

A complete performance against a side who kept going until the very last play of the match but were second best throughout the game. The forwards again laid the foundation for the performance, giving the backs front foot ball all afternoon and they hardly wasted a chance to put points on the board. 15 tries away from home with 6 coming from the forwards tells the story of an impressive effort.

The Davlav Man of the Match went to Paul Bradley, never stopped behind the gain line, scored 3 tries and strong in defence. Walden didn’t have an answer for his power in the loose. Brentwood have a week off league duty and entertain Southend in the Essex Cup on Saturday 18th November at King Georges.

Brentwood Team: Visser, Richards, Bevans-Royston, Woodcock, Killington, Whaley, Bessenger, Bradley, White, Burr, Hornby, Thomas, Stannard, Pollinger, Simpson. Subs: Tilly, Amato, Wilkinson