This week a glorious spring Saturday saw the Brentwood faithful make the away trip to take on HAC at one of the league’s most interesting grounds; a pitch hidden within the depths of the City of London at Armoury House. With everyone making it past the first hurdle of having your name on the correct list for entry, Brentwood knew it would be a tougher ask still to come away with a win.

Brentwood started fairly brightly, winning some early collisions but some uncharacteristic handling errors in the fine, dry conditions hindered their progress before eventually leading to a penalty for HAC on Brentwood’s ten metre line just before the ten-minute mark. The subsequent kick for touch landed about halfway into Brentwood’s 22 and from the lineout Brentwood doubled down on the errors, a soft lineout penalty allowing HAC to put the ball 5 metres out. HAC’s maul was well set and made ground but Brentwood had looked to have successfully repelled it, unfortunately no one was paying attention to the break off from the side and the try was scored, 7-0.

Brentwood responded positively and spent a considerable amount of time around HAC’s 22 in the next passages of play but HAC’s defence was belligerent and some frustrating errors crept in; a holding on penalty here, a lineout malfunction there, which gave HAC an out on several occasions where Brentwood really needed to capitalise. It was particularly frustrating then that, despite all of Brentwood’s endeavour, on the 25-minute mark HAC added their second on what was only their third visit to Brentwood’s 22, a set move off the scrum and a missed first up tackle seeing them over the whitewash, 14-0.

Four minutes later the deficit got greater still, another penalty after some kick tennis allowing HAC to plonk the ball in the corner once more, the maul surging forward and Brentwood unable to stop the momentum, 21-0.

HAC’s tactical kicking was now starting to really trouble Brentwood and with the lineout misfiring as badly as we’ve seen all season, Brentwood were struggling off of scrappy ball. It was then not particularly ideal that the scrum decided to also go awry on Brentwood’s own 5 metre line having been solid for the duration thus far, Brentwood losing one against the head to hand the ball back to HAC (although were I a controversial Match Reporter I might suggest there was a hint of the early shove about it…), HAC then scoring their fourth from two passes off the back in another that Brentwood will think they should have defended better, 28-0.

In spite of the scoreline, Brentwood hadn’t actually been playing that badly and with about five minutes to go before half time it felt like if they could get something back there was still an outside chance but a chance nonetheless. The sentiment on the field must have been similar as Brentwood continued to plug away in the end third of the pitch but again, opportunity went begging, three lineouts deep in the 22 going wrong and Brentwood left to rue what could have been at the half time whistle.

Five minutes into the second half the comeback got harder still when HAC walloped a 50/22 down the field from which they scored in the corner a couple of phases later, 35-0 and a bit of a mountain to climb now.

Brentwood though weren’t quite ready to give up just yet and tore after the restart, George Bassenger and Jack Richards with a big joint tackle forcing the ball to be spilled into touch. Pleasingly, the lineout worked this time around and Brentwood set the maul for a bit of huff and puff before the ball went into midfield and Jack Mayes peddled forwards making good inroads into the 22. The ball came out left to Henry Bird who spotted that most of HAC’s defence had also gone left and so headed back towards the right, going through a gap and pulling in the last couple of defenders before getting a lovely offload out of the back of the hand to Calvin Close who’d worked hard to get on his shoulder in support to go over for the try and make Catherine’s epic journey on the rail replacement with a small child in tow worthwhile. Henry added the conversion, 35-7 and finally Brentwood with some points to show for their endeavours.

The next five or so minutes of play saw Brentwood just about hang on against another HAC onslaught which had all started because no one had yelled “take the restart” so Brentwood didn’t…However, the tide turned once more when, having gutsed it out in defence, the ball went loose from HAC and Isaac Kibirige was onto it quickly and off down the field at a rate of knots. Whilst the tackle was made, HAC were deemed to have killed the ball cynically in the ruck which prevented Brentwood from continuing their progress, the referee deeming it a significant intervention and brandishing the yellow card. From the penalty, Henry Bird put the ball towards the corner and Brentwood went again, a brief maul before the ball sent into the midfield and another HAC penalty gave Brentwood advantage. Spotting a bit of space in behind, Jake Bedding went for the cheeky dink over the top and with George Bassenger in pursuit of the ball, it was spilt, George favourite to recover it with space between him and the try line before a very offside HAC player beat him to it, another yellow and Brentwood’s third penalty try of the season, 35-14.

Still very much chasing the game, Brentwood were then guilty of being a little overzealous in their attempt to run the ball back from very deep, leaving themselves short in the ruck and conceding a turnover penalty which HAC took three from to extend their lead to 38-14.

Brentwood added their third not long afterwards, this time from a scrum on HAC’s 22. With the forwards having done their job, the ball was out quickly from Jake Bedding to Henry Bird and on to Niall Clifford who took the ball very flat before lofting a delicate pass to an Ewan May hurtling into the line late from fullback, gassing between two defenders to go straight through and outpacing the cover for the try. With Henry Bird’s conversion 38-21.

With ten minutes now remaining, Brentwood tried hard for the fourth try and a bonus point but with HAC tactically astute and pinning them back, escaping their own half was difficult and, after conceding a penalty Brentwood found themselves back on the defensive right at the end. Having successfully rebuffed several assaults on their line, it was unfortunate for Brentwood that on the stroke of full time HAC scored in the corner to add some gloss to their score, 45-21 with the whistle after the conversion.

For Brentwood, this is one of those games there is no point dwelling on, on the day they didn’t play badly but were simply outplayed by their opponents who were incredibly clinical in the first half taking the majority of their opportunities when Brentwood couldn’t and executed a smart game plan well. At least we had a pleasant afternoon out in the sun!

Next week Brentwood will look to bounce back in their last home league fixture of the season against 8th placed Woodford. In the away fixture on a miserable day back in December, Brentwood lost narrowly at the death in an ill-tempered fixture and will be hoping to make amends in front of their home crowd.