This Saturday Brentwood welcomed Letchworth Garden City to a grey King George's for the beginning of the second half of the league season. There were a few tweaks to the team to take on the unbeaten league leaders; in the front row Cam Rastall returned after a long injury lay off with Jack Mayes coming into the back row and in the backs Tyler Ford returned to outside centre with Luke Watson starting at fullback and Jack Wells and Colby Dobson coming on to the bench.

For the second week in a row Brentwood were playing down the slope in the first half (sort it out Vogel) and kicked off to a Letchworth team who immediately showed why they currently sit at the top of the league. For a good 10 minutes Brentwood were entirely starved of both possession and territory by well-drilled Letchworth whose ball retention was excellent, Brentwood unable to do anything but batten down the hatches and defend. Brentwood's defence though was strong, big hits flying in and when George Bassenger grabbed a crucial turnover with Letchworth camped by the try line it looked like Brentwood had weathered the storm.

Unfortunately for Brentwood it was a short-lived respite, a few minutes later it was Letchworth who were winning a turnover penalty, opting to put the ball into the corner for the lineout. From the lineout the ball was moved quickly through various phases and Brentwood’s defence was pulled too narrow allowing Letchworth to find a small bit of space on the right wing which they took advantage of to score the opening try of the match, the conversion giving them a 0 -7 lead.

Brentwood hit back instantly, Jamie Cox's restart on the money with George Bassenger able to get an arm to the ball and bat it back to Ben Shouksmith. Ben took it on well, wriggling through a couple of tackles, to start Brentwood’s first meaningful period of possession in the game which eventually culminated in James Vogel being deemed held up over the try line.

Brentwood though kept the momentum when Letchworth elected to try and run it from the resulting 5 metre scrum, some unrelenting defence forcing a harried clearance to gain an attacking lineout just outside the 22. Brentwood's lineout was executed well, coming off the top from to Ben Shouksmith via James Killington with James Vogel crashing up through the centre before an impressive carry from Cam Rastall took Brentwood to within 5. The ball was spread wide and taken in again through Fraser Parris before a strong follow up carry from Charlie Wilkinson got close and allowed Louis Payne to pick the ball up from the back of the ruck and bundle over for the try. Jamie Cox’s conversion levelled the scores at 7-7.

Brentwood were now playing some quite fluid rugby, Charlie Wilkinson making some good inroads off his wing and Jack Mayes and Dan Suttle carrying prominently but Letchworth’s defence was also strong and a promising Brentwood attack broke down when a bit of lateral play resulted in an accidental offside just inside Letchworth’s 22. It got worse for Brentwood from the scrum, where it was becoming increasingly clear that Letchworth were in the ascendency, when a wheel let Letchworth’s 8 break off the back and down the blindside before getting the inside pass away to his support. Letchworth kept the move flowing well, offloading their way up the field with Brentwood unable to complete a tackle until just outside of their own 22. With Brentwood’s defensive line all over the place, Letchworth shipped it wide to the right and, in spite of a strong tackle from Luke Watson covering back halting what looked like a walk in, Letchworth recycled the ball once more and spread it back left where they made use of a three man overlap to score. The conversion missed, 7-12.

Ten minutes later Brentwood provided a riposte once again when a penalty in the middle of the pitch gave them the opportunity to put the ball in the corner. Whilst Letchworth had the scrum upper hand, Brentwood were winning the lineout battle and another well drilled lineout from Louis Payne to James Killington saw the maul set. Brentwood’s forwards quickly propelled towards the try line with Louis Payne splintering off to dive over the whitewash for his second, the missed conversion leaving the scores at a level 12-12 at half time.
The second half was incredibly physical, both defences knocking lumps out of each other and coupled with frequent ruck penalties against both sides, neither team really hit their attacking stride in the second 40. Letchworth’s pivotal score came on around the 60th minute and was a frustrating one for Brentwood when, having pinched a Letchworth attacking lineout inside the 22, a contentious knock on decision was given against them handing Letchworth the attacking scrum. Letchworth’s scrum was again powerful, and nearly got to the try line itself, but with a penalty advantage they opted to play the ball and a smart line was cut through the centres for the try to be scored under the posts, the conversion taking the score to 12-19.

Brentwood battled back and did have opportunity to level the scores, spending a reasonable amount of time in Letchworth’s 22 at various points in the remaining 20 minutes but just couldn’t quite find a way through Letchworth’s dogged defence; a final holding on penalty against Brentwood with time up clinching the win for Letchworth.
Despite the loss, for Brentwood this was actually one of their better performances in recent weeks and certainly one to take a lot of positives from with a losing bonus point well deserved – H.A.C and Eton Manor being the only other two teams to take away any points in an encounter with Letchworth so far this season.

Brentwood will hope to build on this next week as they head to a very familiar rival in Chingford who they beat 43-22 in the home fixture in September. Chingford currently sit bottom of the league with just the one win so far this season but with the usual rivalry and Brentwood having only won one on the road this campaign there can be no complacency in what will likely be another tough encounter.