Brentwood 24 Old Haberdashers 29 (London & SE Division London 1 North) 1st February 2020

Brentwood welcomed Old Haberdashers (Habs henceforth) to a breezy King George's with another couple of changes to the matchday 18. Colby Dobson started on the wing in the place of Charlie Wilkinson with a sort of fit Ed Hornby returning to the bench as backs substitute. Jack Richards returned to the front row replacing Joe McMillan and Harry Adams took up the front row replacement spot. Brentwood had won a topsy turvy away fixture 38-24 earlier in the season but with Habs in a good run of form Brentwood knew the performance needed to be stepped up from last week.

Habs had won the toss and chosen to play downhill with the fairly strong gust behind them for the first half - the aim presumably to build a score and make Brentwood chase it. If this were their plan, it started pretty well for Habs, Brentwood letting the kick-off drop and bounce into touch putting Habs in good field position straight away. Trying to play out of their own 22, Brentwood proceeded to make matters worse for themselves when the ball was knocked on and Habs now had the attacking scrum. In the reverse fixture Brentwood had struggled in the scrum, Habs one of the strongest scrummaging sides in the league, and it was to be the same again as Brentwood's young front row gave away the penalty advantage. Habs played the advantage, carrying strongly mostly via the forwards and it was all too easy as they made their way to the try line, a couple more pick and goes before the ball was popped up for their flanker to burrow over and score the opening try. The conversion missed, 0-5 to Habs.

Brentwood rallied briefly after the score, a good kick from Sam Cappaert gaining territory and Brentwood exerted some pressure of their own at the other end of the field. Unfortunately, this came to an end when they fell foul of the referee twice in quick succession and found themselves back in their own 22 once more following two Habs touch finders. Another penalty saw Habs kick for the corner, but Brentwood did well, managing to disrupt the lineout causing a Habs knock on. The joy was, however, short lived as Brentwood now had the dubious reward of a 5 metre defensive scrum....You could practically see the Habs front row salivating as they bent to engage, getting the nudge on and winning a scrum penalty in the process. From the penalty they opted to scrum again and this time the shove really came on and Brentwood could do little about it, conceding the pushover try. This time the conversion was good, 0-12 to Habs.

Brentwood didn't let their heads drop and a hanging restart from Thomas Lucas Roast drew a penalty, having been knocked on and then picked up in an offside position by Habs. This time it was Brentwood's turn to kick into the 22 and they made no mistake with the lineout, setting up a maul which gained good yards before the ball was passed out for Sam Cappaert to crash up further. Toby Tierney and Jack Richards also followed up with strong carries to keep Brentwood on the front foot before Thomas Lucas Roast spied a gap and ghosted straight through the Habs defence, providing a delightful scoring pass to Alex Wilson to go over in the corner, running round to get as close to the posts as possible. Thomas Lucas Roast converted to narrow the score, 7-12 to Habs.

Brentwood were judged to have knocked the restart on, much to the chagrin of the home support, and immediately Habs were back on the front foot with the put into an attacking scrum. Habs got the nudge on once more but Brentwood remained mostly solid and the ball was flung out to the Habs centres. The scrum may have been solid, but the tackles were not, the Habs centre running strongly and busting through a couple of attempts before just about being stopped short of the try line. Habs recycled quickly and with Brentwood still scrambling back into position there was little to stop the Habs flanker from diving over for their third of the day. The conversion missed, 7-17 to Habs, and Brentwood's injury plague struck once more with Jack Richards leaving the field clutching his shoulder to be replaced by Harry Adams.

Never ones to make life easy for themselves, the next period of the game saw Brentwood try to play out of their own half after a long kick into space from Habs had forced them back from the restart. As frustration crept in that they weren't getting particularly far, an overly ambitious offload attempt was thrown forwards straight into the grateful hands of one of the Habs players who wasted no time in running straight through Brentwood's completely disjointed defence for a clear run to the line. The conversion in front of the sticks was knocked over 7-24 to Habs.

With around 5 minutes of the half left to play, Brentwood once again dusted themselves off and chased the restart hard and put pressure on Habs clearing kick earning the throw to the lineout in a good position. Showing some rarely seen patience, Brentwood put together multiple phases of carries together through both forwards and backs which resulted in a penalty in their favour being punted towards the corner. The lineout was well taken, and the maul set but it was stopped by Habs, so Brentwood got the ball out through James McCarthy. Tijde Visser was quickly up from the defunct maul to crash the ball forward with a typically strong carry before Dan Suttle also took the ball in hard to gain more metres. Spotting an opportunity, Thomas Lucas Roast demanded the ball off his forwards and chipped a beautifully weighted kick over the try line for Sam Cappaert to pounce on for Brentwood's second try. Thomas Lucas Roast also added the extras, 14 - 24 to Habs with half time soon after.

The second half kicked off with a spot of controversy, Habs not taking Brentwood's kick off and the ball bouncing, touch judge Mr Lucas Roast putting his flag up where the ball bobbled into touch just outside the 22. The referee however, decided it had gone out on the full from the kick-off leaving the normally mild-mannered Mr Lucas Roast incensed and Brentwood with a defensive scrum back on the halfway line. Still grumbling about the perceived injustice, Brentwood's first up tackling from the scrum was poor and Habs centres were once again allowed to run hard and make too much ground. A good tackle from Jake Harcourt brought a momentary stop to proceedings but Habs swung the ball wide and, with Brentwood all over the place, got the ball through the hands to score in the corner. The conversion missed, 14 - 29 to Habs.
Brentwood's next restart was kept well clear of the touchline and with Habs forced to exit into the wind, Brentwood regained possession in a promising position. For only the second time in the game, Brentwood managed to keep hold of the ball for a period and build some phases - Harry Adams, Toby Tierney and Tijde Visser all making prominent contributions and taking Brentwood further downfield. Brentwood's patience finally told when, having sucked in a number of Habs defenders, the ball was spun wide via Thomas Lucas Roast and Sam Kendall to Alex Wilson on the wing who squeezed in the corner for his second of the game. Thomas Lucas Roast's excellent touchline conversion added the extras, 21-29 to Habs.

Brentwood now had the wind in their sails, metaphorically and literally with the wind blowing strongly into the clubhouse corner, and came again, eventually earning a penalty just inside the Habs half. Sam Cappaert stepped up for the shot at goal which had the legs but not quite the accuracy and lead to a bizarre incident whereby the Habs nominated touch judge caught the ball before it had gone dead. Whilst it more than likely would have gone over the dead ball line you can never quite be certain with an odd shaped ball, so the referee had no real option but to have the kick retaken due to the interference. Unfortunately for Brentwood and much to the relief of the Habs touch judge the result was the same and this time it did go dead.

Brentwood continued to probe for the elusive 4th try but failed to capitalise from a couple of reasonable opportunities with the Habs defence looking remarkably well drilled for a team that purportedly don't train...Brentwood train twice a week and sometimes look like they've never met before on a matchday! With time running out Habs finally conceded a kickable penalty which Thomas Lucas Roast made no mistakes with to bring the score to 24-29, Brentwood in losing bonus point range and one final chance to snatch a draw or victory at the death.
It wasn't however to be, Habs wisely going very long with the restart and with the clock running down rapidly Brentwood were forced to play from deep in their own half. Although initially good progress was made, the ball was eventually lost forwards and Habs seized the opportunity to play out the last minute through keep ball in their forwards, kicking the ball out when time was up to hang on for the win.

For Brentwood, this is one that on another day they may well have burgled at the death, just not this time. It was a plucky performance nonetheless and certainly a much better performance than the week previous but with no wins in the last 3 Brentwood now slip to 6th and 11 points off second.

The league now takes a break for a week and with the twos similarly afflicted by the injury plague, Brentwood will be hoping for a few of the more minor knocks to heal otherwise it may be advisable to bring your boots along for the next game against Shelford - you might be getting the call up! Shelford, fellow relegatées from the London & SE Premier last season, currently sit in 9th with a mixed bag of results. Brentwood won the away fixture in October 15 - 6 and will be hoping to build on this week and return to winning ways at King George's on 15th February.