After another successful Wear It Pink in aid of Breast Cancer Awareness Ladies Lunch, this week’s visitors to King George’s were Chelmsford who, whilst winless so far this season, had given Brentwood two tough games last time round.

A sunny, autumnal day provided nice spectating conditions for the prosecco-buzzed crowd but for Brentwood, kicking off and playing down the hill, it was a not a great start. I would imagine giving a penalty away almost immediately didn’t form part of the gameplan and neither did conceding the game’s first try; a period of scrappy play allowing Chelmsford to spot an intercept opportunity which they took well, scoring with just over 5 minutes gone, 0-5.

Any complacency now firmly put aside, Brentwood set about getting their own game going which they did well; two solid tackles from the restart forcing Chelmsford into conceding a ruck penalty which was tapped quickly by Kieran Ballinger, Chelmsford tackling him too soon and giving Brentwood another penalty which they elected to put in the corner. The lineout was good, a brief maul formed from which Will McArthur exploded off the back, nearly getting to the try line but just stopped short. George Miles and James Stevens were also rebuffed in close quarters, but the collisions had pulled Chelmsford narrow, Kieran Ballinger getting it right to Henry Bird who committed the final two defenders and threw another lovely offload which was taken by Isaac Kibirige to go in at the corner, with Henry’s conversion 7-5.

Two minutes later, Brentwood added a second when Will McArthur stripped the ball from Chelmsford in the tackle and went charging forwards, Henry Bird and Calvin Close quick to react and follow up in support to take Brentwood to within 5 metres of the try line. The ball was recycled three times via George Bassenger, Jack Mayes and Jack Richards towards the left corner which again opened up some space infield, Henry Bird looping round off a pass from Will McArthur and Niall Clifford cutting a lovely line against the grain to go in unopposed under the sticks. Another two from the boot of Henry Bird extended Brentwood’s lead to 14-5.

Brentwood’s try flurry continued, number three being scored seven minutes later after Henry Bird had put a well-weighted kick into the bottom right corner, chasing hard to make the tackle with Brentwood’s forwards piling through to turn the ball over and win a penalty. Into the corner it went, and although the maul was pulled down illegally, the ball was playable for Brentwood who went through three phases near the posts via Henry Bird, Jack Richards and Will McArthur before a mismatch was spotted on the far right, Kieran Ballinger and Tauren Henwood combining to give Henry Bird a one on one which he stepped through to score in the corner, 19-5.

The bonus point try followed only a minute after, Jack Mayes bursting free from a deep restart to take the ball all the way back to Chelmsford’s 22 and give Brentwood enormous forward momentum. It was spread left quickly and after another quick ruck on the wing the ball came back infield to Tauren Henwood who skipped straight through the defensive line, the last man making the tackle but not preventing the offload to Kieran Ballinger who went over by the posts. A straightforward conversion for Henry Bird took the score to 26-5.

Brentwood’s fifth and, as it transpires final, try came on the 35-minute mark from a scrum just outside Chelmsford’s 22. The ball was in and out of the scrum quickly, Kieran Ballinger firing it to Isaac Kibirige who was standing at ten, a short pass to Henry Bird and a strong dummy line from Tauren Henwood providing a lovely bit of subterfuge for Henry to pop the ball to his centre partner Niall Clifford who glided straight through, showed the fullback a mean step and went under the posts again for his second of the day. Henry Bird added another two, 33-5.

It was Chelmsford though who would have the final say of the half, their visits to Brentwood’s 22 having been few and far between but making no mistake when they did get up there, a gap opening at the side of the ruck which they took, 33-10. And then, despite the first half only being 39 minutes long, Brentwood still had time to concede a yellow card, George Miles with ten minutes on the naughty step and half time.

Fourteen-man Brentwood started the second half reasonably well, Chelmsford with a man also sent to the bin with about five minutes gone after too many penalties. Brentwood though couldn’t add to their score whereas Chelmsford did, a second try coming after another prolonged period in Brentwood’s 22 where a dominant scrum gave them a penalty opportunity which they tapped and went through a couple of phases before going over, 33-15.

If the first half had been very quick, from a Brentwood perspective the second half at points felt like time had stopped altogether, and this will likely be the shortest second half summary you’re going to read from me all year… In terms of how Brentwood have played so far this season, this was very average, and they didn’t really look like troubling the try line again. Oddly though, there was little stress on my perpetually stressed part (potentially the bottomless prosecco had helped…) as they also didn’t look like conceding a try, the game limping slowly to a stop start, scrappy full-time whistle.

For Brentwood, it is odd to come away feeling a little disappointed about another 5-point win. Chelmsford took their opportunities well when presented but upon review Brentwood will feel they could have done a little more defensively, ultimately though Brentwood were clinical in the first half and gave themselves enough of a buffer to get the job done.

The league now takes a break week before Holt make the long trip from Norfolk to King George’s. Holt, like Chelmsford, are also still looking for their first win of the season. Brentwood ran out winners in both encounters last season, but neither were straightforward; Holt are a lively team and play some good attacking rugby, Brentwood will need to make some improvements on this week if they are to continuing their winning streak and stay top of the league.