After a lot of rain, which mercifully let up just in time for kick off, this week a muddy King George’s saw the visit of HAC who were just four points behind Brentwood in the league table and on their own five game winning streak.

Brentwood kicked off and were sliding down the slope in the first half for what was a good start, getting possession back fairly quickly and working their way into HAC’s 22. Play went through many phases with both Liam Power and Tauren Henwood going close on either wing but HAC’s scramble was good and holding strong but eventually gave away a penalty infringement. Brentwood went to the corner and with the lineout to the back accurate, the maul trundled forwards. Jack Richards broke from the back but was just short of the line, Andy Sutton following up and having the strength to roll round the tackle and get the ball over the line with about 7 minutes on the clock. Henry Bird added the conversion, 7-0.

The score remained that way for a further fifteen minutes with play mostly concentrated between Brentwood’s 22 and halfway in which HAC did have opportunity, particularly a line break which was only thwarted by a diving Jack Richards tackle and Isaac Kibirige getting across to cover the supporting man. Increasingly though, it was starting to feel that Brentwood were hanging on, HAC retaining the ball well and even when Brentwood did force an error it was only a brief respite from the pressure that HAC were applying. On about the twenty minute mark HAC did breach Brentwood’s try line for a score which they’d had to work hard for, 7-7.

Brentwood had the chance to hit back almost immediately, a penalty just after the restart allowing them to plonk the ball straight back in the corner and work through some phases before creating an overlap on the left…but an intercepted pass was thrown and the chance went awry, Liam Power doing well to get back and prevent the outcome being worse.

Another half opportunity went begging shortly after, George Bassenger nicking the lineout after an excellent Liam Power touch finder had landed just outside HAC’s 22; Eamon Tiernan, George Miles, Henry Bird and George Bassenger making big inroads to quickly get Brentwood to within 5 metres before a sloppy ruck penalty saw the chance lost.

Half time followed soon after with the scores remaining level and unfortunately in games like this, those are the chances you need to convert and now, playing up the slope in heavy conditions for the second half Brentwood really did face a quite literal uphill battle.

In spite of this, the touchline regulars were vaguely optimistic…but that was soon extinguished when HAC scored immediately after half time; a charged down kick pinballing around before eventually being grounded by HAC and whilst there was more than a hint of a knock on, as the old adage goes, play to the whistle…7-14 and now it was a more of a mountain to climb.

If we’re honest, from then on those of us who put ourselves through Saturday rugby stress every weekend knew there was going to be no comeback in this one with both the players on the pitch and Brentwood’s crowd (who have been described as partisan before now…) oddly subdued. In contrast, HAC now really had the wind in their sails and were playing the far smarter rugby of the two teams, pinning Brentwood back and forcing them to try and play for deep in conditions that did not favour running rugby.

The nail in the coffin came about ten minutes later, a slip whilst attempting a tackle opening a gaping hole in Brentwood’s defensive line which HAC needed no invitation to take, going under the posts to extend their lead to 7-21.

Whilst there was still nearly half an hour left to play, there was already an inevitability about the result and with HAC again playing the smarter rugby, Brentwood were stuck in an endless cycle of trying to play from deep, running into HAC’s brick wall defence and eventually an error would creep in. A late flurry did give hope that maybe at least a bonus point could be salvaged but it wasn’t to be and eventually the full-time whistle came.

From a Brentwood perspective this was a disappointing one, HAC the better team on the day and deserved winners but for Brentwood also a game where they did not play to the same level they have hit in previous weeks.

Brentwood will now need to put this one aside as next week they head away to Woodford as the tough pre-Christmas run continues. Woodford currently sit eighth in the league with four wins and whilst Brentwood ran out winners in the same fixture last year, this has often been a difficult away fixture; Brentwood will need to re-discover their previous form if they are to bounce back from this week’s defeat.