After a four-game losing streak, Brentwood had finally broken the habit with what sounded like a somewhat chaotic win away at Old Priorians and were hoping to continue in the same vein against Eton Manor at King George’s this week. Unfortunately, after a February of non-stop rain and storms, Brentwood’s pitches were deemed unplayable and in order to get the fixture played Brentwood agreed to travel to Eton Manor once more to play on their plastic which was in considerably better shape. Brentwood were forced into another change, Matt Whaley the latest victim of the injury blight, Jack Wells starting in his place with Dan Suttle coming back on to the bench.

An earlier kick off due to the rearranged venue saw the traditionally slow starting Brentwood even blearier than usual, the first 5 minutes of the game being spent having to defend far too close to their own line. Finally, a spill from Eton Manor gave Brentwood some relief, Thomas Lucas Roast kicking the ball long and Brentwood somehow managing to retrieve the ball in the danger zone but unable to get over the whitewash before Eton Manor gave away a penalty. Thomas Lucas Roast took the 3 points on offer and Brentwood had burgled a 0-3 lead.

It was, however, to be short lived, Brentwood almost immediately giving away a penalty of their own which allowed Eton Manor to kick for the corner. From the lineout Brentwood initially defended well with Eton Manor taking the ball in several times to no avail but the referee deemed that Brentwood had crept offside and Eton Manor had another penalty. Expecting it to be kicked either for the corner or the posts, Brentwood were inattentive to the quick tap that was actually the chosen option and couldn’t scramble quickly enough to stop Eton Manor going over in the corner for the first try of the day. The conversion from wide missed, 5-3 to Eton Manor and a set of apoplectic Brentwood coaches on the touchline.

Ten minutes of toing and froing followed where neither team really established any real dominance, Brentwood seemingly incapable of holding on to the ball for longer than three phases and Eton Manor giving away penalties any time they did. Brentwood were unable to take advantage of some of these penalties with the lineout malfunctioning spectacularly and eventually a loose kick was poked down the middle. The kick was retrieved under no pressure, allowing Eton Manor’s fullback far too much space which he needed no second invitation to take, shredding the remainder of Brentwood’s defence to go over for Eton Manor’s second. The conversion missed 10-3 to Eton Manor.

Brentwood rallied once more, Toby Tierney doing his best to drag Brentwood forwards single-handedly at times, but too many unforced errors and lack of protection of their own ball saw Brentwood cough up possession and pressure time and time again. Once more, when Brentwood eventually did keep hold of the ball for more than thirty seconds, Eton Manor conceded the penalty and Thomas Lucas Roast knocked another three pointer over, 10-6.

Eton Manor put the restart out on the full after the penalty, giving the scrum to Brentwood on half way but any hope of building a further attack from there was short lived when the Eton Manor scrum half managed to get between the scrum and the pass and race away for the intercept. It looked like he was going to coast in under the posts, only to be halted short by an excellent retreating tackle from Sam Cappaert who had just about managed to get back, but Brentwood conceded the penalty in the next phase. Brentwood were fortunately more alert to this quick tap, the initial tackle being a good one, unfortunately the subsequent tackle was not so good and Eton Manor powered over the line once more. This time the conversion was good, 17-6 to Eton Manor.

Before the half was up there was time for Brentwood to miss a long range penalty but also add another from the boot of Thomas Lucas Roast, Brentwood going in to the interval 17-9 down but with the consensus that if they could cut some errors and look after the ball there was still all to play for in the second half.

After wind, cloud and hail in the first half, the sun decided to show it’s face for the second half and things were looking brighter for Brentwood too. After Eton Manor had knocked on their own up and under, Harry Adams regathered the ball and it was out quickly to Thomas Lucas Roast who threw a lovely pass to put Toby Tierney through a big gap in the Eton Manor defence. Bounding through from the 10 metre line, he even stepped the last man only to just be caught by a chasing Manor defender and dragged down just shy of scoring. Brentwood then finally showed some patience, taking it wide left to Charlie Wilkinson before going back right to stretch Eton Manor’s defence before Dan Libby bundled over in the corner. Thomas Lucas Roast nailed the wide conversion, 17-16 to Eton Manor.

Brentwood’s hopes of pulling the game back were then dealt a further blow when almost immediately Eton Manor were awarded a penalty allowing them straight back into Brentwood’s 22. The lineout was deemed not straight, but Brentwood struggled in the resulting defensive scrum. The pass from the base went awry and Brentwood’s scrabbling defence were ripped of the ball right by their own try line, Manor piling over for another score. The conversion was on target, 24 – 16 to Eton Manor.

Eton Manor’s next score started an extremely costly 15 minute capitulation from Brentwood which left any hope of nabbing a win extinguished by the 65th minute. After a promising break from Sam Cappaert had seen to a dink over the defence being marked, Brentwood failed to regather the clearing kick – a bounce even more perilous on plastic than it is on grass. The Eton Manor chaser did well to get in between two Brentwood players and be first to the bobbling ball but clearly knocked the ball on. Unfortunately, the man in the middle had his view obscured and Brentwood stopped playing, waiting for the decision to be given. Eton Manor however, quite rightly did not stop, kicking the ball on and regathering well, stepping the last of Brentwood’s defence to score. The conversion missed, 29-16 to Eton Manor and another reminder of what gets trotted out week on week from minis onwards – play to the whistle!

Brentwood’s misery was further compounded when Charlie Wilkinson, having offered his view about the lack of knock on decisions to the referee, was yellow carded (making a late surge for most prolifically carded of the season!) and Eton Manor were awarded a penalty on half way instead of a restart for good measure. Brentwood would concede two further tries in the next 15 or so minutes, taking the score to 41-16 in Eton Manor’s favour with 15 left to play.

Brentwood did restore some pride after a dour 15 minutes, Toby Tierney again finding a gap in the midfield after Alex Wilson had made some good ground up the wing. Dan Suttle took the ball on strongly and was tackled just inside the 22 before the ball was whipped wide quickly, Charlie Wilkinson steaming into the corner to take the score to 41-21.

Eton Manor replied with a penalty kick at goal before Brentwood scored their third of the day after some good defence had forced Manor to knock on just inside their own 22. Good initial work from Sam Cappaert and Alex Wilson up the wing took Brentwood close to the line before further strong carries from Dan Suttle, Toby Tierney and Jake Harcourt took Brentwood close enough for Dan Libby to power over for his second of the day, 44-26 to Eton Manor.

Having scored 3 tries Brentwood tried desperately to score the fourth in the dying minutes and take a consolation point from the game but, as has so often been the case this season, unlucky try number 4 continued to evade them.

Brentwood will be disappointed with this game on a frustrating day where some basic errors and a costly third quarter put the game out of reach.
In spite of the result, Brentwood did show occasional glimpses of what they are capable of with some well worked tries and they will be aiming to show more of this in Saturday’s rearranged fixture against 9th place Shelford.

Brentwood will face another tough challenge with a large number of players unavailable having made other plans for what was meant to be a week off but, as ever, this gives the opportunity for others to step up and make their case to be selected going forwards. This is of course assuming that the rain lets up and King George’s dries out a bit, otherwise might I suggest 7 aside water polo instead…