Following a week off after a frustrating defeat to Southend, Brentwood made the trip for their furthest away game of the season to sunny but windy Norwich. Norwich were on the back of three successive wins and with Brentwood having squeaked a 2-point victory in the same fixture last season there was no doubt that this would be a tough trip.

Norwich got the game underway, Brentwood with the sun in their eyes and at a slight disadvantage from the strong wind blowing diagonally across the pitch. Brentwood were forced into defensive duties early on, Norwich enjoying a strong start when an excellent 50/22 allowed them to set a maul which got very close to Brentwood's try line; the collective effort of the Brentwood pack only just managing to repel it. Having absorbed the pressure, Brentwood then enjoyed a period in the ascendency, a promising counterattack from 22 to 22 only breaking down after a forward pass and another hopeful set of phases just not quite enough to undo Norwich's defence.

It was, however, to be Norwich who opened the scoring. After a period of play in the middle of the park a slightly loose kick was punted into Norwich's 22 and fielded easily with Norwich electing to run it back up the right wing before putting a chip over an oncoming Brentwood defender. The ball bobbled about a bit, as rugby balls have a tendency to, and Norwich were first to get hands on it again leaving the Brentwood defence back peddling. Quick to spot the space out wide and misaligned defence, Norwich moved the ball left and were over for the first try of the game, the conversion taking the score to 7-0 Norwich.

Brentwood responded well, George Bassenger immediately winning back the restart, but a knock on a couple of phases later saw the chance go begging. With James Vogel and Dan Suttle carrying prominently in the tight exchanges and Charlie Wilkinson making good ground down the right every time he got the ball, Brentwood continued to create half chances but an air of Southend deja-vu was starting to creep in with no points to show for their efforts.

It took a bit of individual sparkle to finally get Brentwood on the scoreboard; another promising foray into Norwich’s 22 had broken down when Norwich had got over the ball on the ground first, but the clearing kick was harried and landed plum in the arms of Ewan May on the 10-metre line. With a disorganized defensive line in front of him, Ewan ran it straight back, evading four attempted tackles on his way to the try line to score under the posts, converting his own try to level the scores at 7-7.

Brentwood struck again 5 minutes later. A penalty for a high tackle led to a Brentwood lineout just shy of Norwich’s 22 but the ball was overthrown, Norwich running it back. However, a fumble in midfield allowed Charlie Wilkinson to pounce, pulling in two defenders before offloading to Tyler Ford. Tyler put his foot down and managed to squeeze through a cluster of three would be tacklers to race clear and dot down for the try. Ewan’s conversion was successful, 7-14.

The remainder of the half played out in typical Brentwood fashion. Having looked like they were beginning to assert some dominance, discipline began to waiver and a succession of penalties found Norwich camped in Brentwood's 22 trying to level the scores. Brentwood managed to successfully repel Norwich's efforts, but it did come at a cost, further penalties in the red zone seeing Jamie Cox take a team yellow just before half time.

14-man Brentwood got the second half underway and immediately set about not allowing Norwich to gain from the numerical advantage, good pressure forcing a kick out on the full and an attacking Brentwood lineout. The maul was well formed, and another penalty earned which was kicked further into the corner, the forwards opting for the same again and drawing another penalty advantage. This time Brentwood played the advantage; Ewan May putting in a high, hanging cross field kick. Tyler Ford took man and ball with the tackle and Luke Watson was quickly on the scene to pilfer possession, Tom Lucas Roast only needing to pop one pass out to George Bassenger who had wrapped round the blindside to crash over for the try. Ewan May’s extras took the score to 7-21 and with the return of Jamie to the field a well-managed sin bin period.

A scrappy segment of many scrums saw Brentwood add a further 3 points to their tally via the boot of Ewan May to take the score out to 7-24 before a period of what can only be described as chaos rugby from both teams descended. With multiple turn overs, a bit of aerial ping pong and a lot of ball in play time it was inevitable that defences would lose their shape eventually but fortunately it was Brentwood who were to profit from it. A Norwich knock on was quickly scooped up by Luke Watson who freed his hands from the tackle to offload the ball to Jamie Cox. Jamie took the ball up the left wing and into Norwich’s 22 before finding Luke Watson again on the inside. Putting on the burners, Luke shrugged off the clutches of the last defender and gassed over the line for the bonus point try, much to the relief of the many forwards who had collapsed in midfield. Ewan’s conversion extended Brentwood’s lead to 7-31.

With ten minutes remaining Brentwood's victory was in theory assured but Fraser Parris made doubly sure shortly after, chasing back to produce a spectacular try saving tackle after Norwich had broken from a well anticipated intercept. Norwich though were rewarded for their endeavours eventually; a brainless yellow card for James Killington allowed Norwich one last go at Brentwood's try line and they put together some good phase play to work an overlap on the left with the last play of the game. The conversion took the score to 14 - 31 in Brentwood's favour at full time.

For Brentwood this was a well-earned bonus point victory on the road and especially pleasing to this week to see some chances actually get converted into points! Next week Brentwood welcome Chelmsford to King George's. Chelmsford currently sit 7th in the league, just 3 points behind Brentwood in 6th so a win will be crucial to remain in the top half.