This Saturday saw Brentwood and their usual merry band of supporters make the long away trip to Norfolk to play Holt. In the reverse fixture, Brentwood had notched up a century of points but knew that Holt on their own ground were a different prospect and with a bumper home crowd spectating (including the Youngs brothers!), they’d need to have packed their A game on the coach were they to come away with the win.

With that in mind, Brentwood of course found themselves completely under the cosh for the opening ten minutes of the game; a penalty from the kick off setting the tone for a whistle-happy start which saw Brentwood on a card warning on about minute seven which must be some kind of unwanted record even by Brentwood standards…

Camped in their own 22, Brentwood just about clung on for the period with a few very crucial tackles from Isaac Kibirigie, Luke Watson and Tom Walker in quick succession just about keeping Holt from getting over the try line before finally a Tauren Henwood chop followed swiftly by George Miles planting himself over the ball meant Brentwood could relieve the pressure and clear to just outside the 22. The forwards followed up with an excellent maul effort from the lineout, surging up to the ten-metre line before Jack Mayes broke off to power on another couple of yards. Brentwood’s ball was quick and when Holt rushed up in defence, Tom Walker needed no invite to take the outside arc, taking play past Holt’s 10 metre line before offloading to Isaac Kibirigie with space ahead. Now normally, I think we’d all back Isaac’s finishing prowess from here, sadly the mud had other ideas and provided the tackle just a few metres short of the line. Brentwood though were steaming forwards and, even with a brief interlude where Dan Suttle did well to recover a loose ball, had numbers on the left, Tauren Henwood lofting the pass to Jack Mayes who bumped the cover to go over in the corner, 0-5.

A clunky, stop, start 15 minutes then elapsed with the majority of play in the middle third, both teams hindered by handling errors before a Brentwood attack near Holt’s 22 finally garnered a penalty which Tauren Henwood put into touch 5 metres out. Brentwood’s lineout was accurate but Holt successfully sacked it meaning the maul could not be deployed but Brentwood carried hard from the ruck via Andy Sutton and then Sam Winney to take Brentwood to within a metre where Fraser Parris spotted a small gap by the side of the ruck with which to nab the ball and crash through, scoring Brentwood’s second. With Tauren Henwood’s conversion, 0-12.

Less than two minutes later though, Holt responded with a try of their own. From a Brentwood perspective it was a little unfortunate, a very dominant shove in the scrum on Holt’s put in seeing the ball come shooting out and batted backwards by Holt’s scrum half on the blindside where they had some room and were able to carry deep into Brentwood’s 22. With Brentwood’s defence unable to recover, Holt took the opportunity well and two phases later went over for the score, 7-12.

Brentwood responded positively, Jack Mayes burgling the ball in the tackle just after the restart to put Brentwood back on the attack and Eamon Tiernan carrying strongly to take play straight back into Holt’s 22. Brentwood went close a couple of times before the ball was unfortunately knocked on but with Holt pinged for an early shove in the scrum, Brentwood had opportunity once more. This time they decided the direct route was best, Dan Suttle first up with a big carry, followed swiftly by George Miles who powered over the try line for what was Brentwood’s 100th try of the season, with Tauren Henwood’s extras 7-19.

It being Brentwood there was of course some time for some pre-half time shenanigans, this week in the shape of a Sam Winney taking the team yellow card and with Holt electing to kick the points, 10-19. There was still time for the restart and the penalties continued to come thick and fast, Holt soon back in Brentwood’s 22 with another kickable opportunity, this one causing intense stress on the touchline when it ricocheted off the post back into Holt hands with Brentwood all over the place, a superb man and ball effort from Fraser Parris just about stopping the score before Alex Roberts crunched his man and forced the knock on. Small panic attack over and half time.

Brentwood’s wobbles continued early in the second half, some committed defence seeing them survive a couple of iffy periods defending on their own try line before eventually they got back into their rhythm and scored the bonus point try. This time it came from some patient build-up after a scrum between halfway and the ten metre line, Brentwood going through various phases before Eamon Tiernan made a significant dent. The ball was quick and Tauren Henwood was nimble, stepping past his man to get in behind, finding Fraser Parris up on his shoulder in support for the pass, drawing the last man before getting the ball away for Tom Walker to put the burners on and go over for the try. Tauren knocked the conversion over, 10-26.

Just under ten minutes later Brentwood added a fifth after a scrum in Holt’s 22 had given them a good attacking platform. I’ll be honest, I couldn’t see a lot of this one because you will insist in playing in a corner where my view is restricted by the entirety of the coaching staff…but from what I could discern there were several carries at close quarters before Brentwood exploited the blindside, Tauren Henwood and Andy Sutton combining to give Luke Watson room to slide over in the corner, 10-31.

Brentwood’s physicality was now starting to get on top and from the restart Jack Mayes and Eamon Tiernan conspired to nearly go the length themselves, Holt just outpacing Eamon to his own kick through for the goal line drop out. Brentwood didn’t relent though, running the ball back smartly with Alex Roberts taking it in before Jack Richards made good metres and Brentwood spotted they had room on the left. Kieran Ballinger was quick to get the ball to Tauren Henwood, Isaac Kibirige joining the attack at pace and drawing the last man before passing to Luke Watson in space who was able to step in and bundle over at the corner for his second in as many minutes, 10-36.

With ten minutes to go, Holt pulled one back after a sustained time in Brentwood’s 22 saw them jink through to score, 17-36, but it was Brentwood who were to have the last say on the stroke of full time. It followed after some more patient play had won Brentwood a penalty which they elected to pop towards the corner. The lineout was off the top quickly from James Killington to Calvin Close who crashed through getting within a metre or so, Eamon Tiernan on hand to scoop the ball up and power over for a try that lacked the subtlety of the last but was no less effective, 17-41 and full time a couple of minutes later.

For Brentwood this was a good win on the road in what definitely could have been a banana skin fixture, some really committed defence and physicality keeping Brentwood’s noses ahead at crucial points in the game; whilst the scoreline looks comfortable I can assure you that at points it really wasn’t!

Brentwood will need to keep the same attitude heading into next week as they welcome Harlow to King George’s. Harlow currently sit right in the middle of the league having won half of their games, their form a little unpredictable having notched up some big wins but lost a couple you may have expected they wouldn’t. Brentwood were the winners away in miserable conditions back in November, this time round they’ll be hoping for the same result but maybe in some Spring sunshine instead!