This week, a rare break in all the rain saw Brentwood make the short away trip to Chelmsford on a fresh, sunny Saturday. Earlier in the season Brentwood had run out 33-15 winners but with Chelmsford on the upward trajectory, Brentwood knew they would have to display the same mentality as they have in the previous two rounds to make it three wins in a row.

Playing down a slope which might actually be on more of a gradient than King George’s, Brentwood started strongly, a Jack Mayes intercept getting the ball back almost immediately before a penalty allowed Brentwood a lineout just inside the 22. Andy Sutton’s opening darts were accurate to James Killington in the middle and Brentwood’s pack set about forming a monster maul which charged forwards and stopped just shy of the try line. With the effort that it had taken to stop it, Chelmsford’s defence had been pulled narrow and Brentwood were quick to pull the trigger, two passes from Tauren Henwood and Tom Walker giving Isaac Kibirige space to skate in at the corner. Tauren Henwood landed a tricky opening kick, 0-7.

Just over ten minutes and a few mishaps later in which Brentwood let a couple of half chances go begging, a good passage of play saw Liam Power tackled high just shy of the try line leaving the Brentwood faithful pondering if it was worthy of more than a penalty…In any event, it didn’t matter too much, Brentwood’s lineout drill again good with George Miles, Jack Mayes and Dan Suttle made some dents before Niall Clifford came flashing in on a lovely line to give himself a birthday gift just to the right of the sticks. With Tauren Henwood’s conversion, 0-14.

Brentwood added a third seven minutes later after a long Tauren Henwood kick towards the corner and strong chase had seen Brentwood make a chunky territorial gain for which they were rewarded with the lineout just inside the 22. A penalty directly after the lineout then allowed Brentwood to pop the ball further towards the corner where Andy Sutton went to James Killington before taking the ball back on the wraparound and finding Eamon Tiernan steaming through on the crash, bundling over the line with two defenders trying to hang on to him. Tauren Henwood added another two, 0-21.

The first 25 minutes had been largely one way traffic coming from a Brentwood direction but there was always a feeling that if Chelmsford could get something back early enough then this game was far from settled and when Brentwood were caught napping from a quick tap penalty they did, back peddling through various defensive phases before Chelmsford made it over the line, 7-21.

Brentwood though struck back immediately, George Bassenger collecting Chelmsford’s attempt to knock the restart back and Chelmsford subsequently conceding a penalty in the ruck. Brentwood went towards the corner once again and when Chelmsford, wary of the maul, stepped off, ensured the ball stayed in the hands of James Killington at the front for no obstruction and bundled forwards. As it broke up, Jack Mayes followed up with a quick carry before Brentwood spied a smidge of space on the right Jake Bedding quickly to Niall Clifford at first receiver, Tauren Henwood collecting the ball on the loop before sending it wide to Isaac Kibirige who gassed between two defenders to go over for his second in an almost identical spot to the first. Tauren Henwood’s conversion was similarly successful, 7-28.

Bonus point try now secured, this was of the course where it all started to go a bit awry for Brentwood as we say hello once again to my least favourite side character – the try before half time! With Chelmsford using the last five minutes of the half to apply some pressure of their own, Brentwood found themselves on the defensive around their own 22 for long stretches before eventually weathering the pressure to hold Chelmsford up over the try line. Brentwood’s defence of the goal line drop out was, however, less solid, Chelmsford putting width on the ball quickly before a set of inside pops saw them over the try line, the conversion signalling half time and 14-28.

Now playing up the slope, it definitely would have been preferable for Brentwood to have a 21-point cushion rather than 14, especially as it was evident that the momentum had well and truly swung when Chelmsford reduced the deficit to just 7 points only minutes after the second half had kicked off; an immediate penalty giving Chelmsford the chance to put the ball in the corner and this time their maul trundled over, 21-28.

It continued to go from bad to worse for Brentwood when Chelmsford broke straight through the middle directly from the restart, taking play back into Brentwood’s 22. Another penalty conceded, another lineout and another maul try although crucially this time the conversion drifted, 26-28.

You’d think this might liven Brentwood up a little bit but apparently not…two minutes later and they found themselves behind for the first time in the game having somehow left themselves completely outnumbered on the left from the restart, Chelmsford breaking down the wing before switching back infield and charging straight through to score under the sticks, 33-28 as Sam Cappaert wandered past remarking “you’re going to have fun writing the report for this one…” am I though…

At this point, Brentwood decided that actually they might want to participate in the second half and although not as assured as they had been in the first half, tightened up defensively and managed to do a good job of disrupting Chelmsford’s flow, especially at lineout time where Brentwood’s aerial dominance was becoming prevalent.

Twenty scoreless minutes elapsed before it was Brentwood who pulled themselves back into the lead having gone through several slightly clunky phases in Chelmsford’s 22 before being awarded a penalty. Jake Bedding decided to keep the tempo up, tapping and going before popping it to Eamon Tiernan who took out one defender and then found George Bassenger on his shoulder on a determined run at the line, going through the onrushing cover to crash over to the right of the posts. Tauren Henwood added another two points, 33-35.

With a good fifteen minutes still to play, there was still of course plenty of time for Brentwood to lose the lead again which they duly did all of two minutes later having employed the questionable tactic of kicking the ball straight to Chelmsford’s lively back three with zero chase…large swathes of ground were made down the right side before the chip through bounced away from Brentwood’s cover, Chelmsford able to regather and get over the line in the next phase, 40-35.

The scene now set for a final stressful ten minutes, Brentwood set about grabbing back a victory that was trying to elude them, well after someone had retrieved the one, non-flat match ball…For Brentwood it was a good riposte, patiently building around the half way line before Tom Walker broke through to take play just past the ten metre line. A few further phases with some prominent carries from Dan Suttle and both Georges Bassenger and Miles later, Jack Mayes kept the ball alive in the tackle to flip the ball to the onrushing Tom Fahy who burst through at pace and had the wherewithal to pop the ball off the floor to Eamon Tiernan; Eamon shrugging off the tackle attempt to canter over for the try much to the joy of the Eamon fan club (Bill Bassenger) next to me…Tauren Henwood rounded off a perfect and important day off the tee with conversion number 6 from 6, 40-42.

There were still a few minutes left to play and with only two points in it, Brentwood knew they had to be both accurate and squeaky clean…unfortunately that message hadn’t reached everyone and a soft lineout penalty just to ramp the stress levels up was not appreciated on the touchline... Brentwood though rebuffed Chelmsford’s attack well, eventually forcing a knock on and a break up the touchline from Liam Power after the scrum put Brentwood back at the right end of the pitch. With a couple of successive penalties then going in Brentwood’s favour and some smart decision making to run the clock down finally Tauren Henwood was able to boot the ball into touch for full time and the slenderest of victories.

For Brentwood this was a game they won, lost and then showed good character to win back again when it hung in the balance against a Chelmsford team that caused several defensive headaches. With some good tries scored, some smart play at the death but a few odd decisions in the middle there are both pros and a few work ons to take into the tail end of the season.

The league now takes a break for a week before Brentwood make their furthest away trip of the season to 12th placed Holt. Earlier in the season, Brentwood played some of their best attacking rugby of the year, notching up 108 points and breaking the scoreboard in the process but will need to be mindful of the fact that games away at Holt have been topsy turvy encounters with Holt very capable of scoring plenty of points of their own and there will be no room for complacency if they want to come away with the win.