On a chilly, windy Saturday Brentwood’s last home league fixture of the season saw the visit of Woodford to King George’s. Having lost narrowly in an ill-tempered away fixture, Brentwood were hoping to make amends in front of their home crowd and cement third place in the league in doing so.

The game kicked off with Brentwood playing up the slope and slightly into the wind which was blustering from across the pitch towards the bottom corner but in spite of the elements it was a good start from Brentwood, an early scrum win against the head followed by a lot of yards made by Niall Clifford seeing Brentwood into a good position territorially.

A couple of forays into Woodford’s 22 didn’t quite work out but Brentwood were playing with nice shape and on the seventh minute scored their first of the day. An accurate lineout saw the ball off the top quickly, Jack Mayes with the blast up the middle with some more hard yards contributed by Calvin Close on an inside ball from Tom Fahy. Brentwood’s ball was quick and Henry Bird had spotted that Woodford’s defence was very flat, popping a little chip over the top for which George Bassenger used his height advantage to regather and stride up the pitch, drawing the cover before getting the pass away to his backrow buddy with a little more speed in the tank, Eamon Tiernan, who sprinted in under the sticks. Henry Bird added the conversion to round off a lovely try, 7-0.

Brentwood’s second followed swiftly once Tom Fahy had taken a difficult restart kick, getting the ball away to Tauren Henwood as he landed who jinked through several defenders to give Brentwood immediate go forward. Brentwood continued with the ball in hand, another carry from Calvin Close before it went wide through the backs, Ewan May with a bit of space to roam in on the left, Alex Roberts in support carrying strongly on to take play up halfway. Play then swung back in field, George Miles and Tauren Henwood bashing up the middle, Henry Bird finding Tom Fahy accelerating into a half gap where he was just about clung on to but stayed on his feet to find Sam Winney in support with the offload, Sam charging through to give the inside pass to Eamon Tiernan for his second run in under the sticks in as many minutes and a great team try. With Henry Bird’s conversion, 14-0.

Woodford weren’t going to let Brentwood have it all their own way though and less than five minutes later hit back having moved the ball well after a scrum just outside Brentwood’s 22 to score in the corner, Niall Clifford also seeing yellow in the process…and it had all started so well…14-5.

Fortunately though, Brentwood were in the kind of mood to stop their ever-pessimistic Match Reporter from fretting too much, successfully weathering a couple of further Woodford attacks before adding their third in spite of the numerical disadvantage. It was again a team, multi-phase effort starting from a scrum between halfway and Brentwood’s ten metre line, Eamon Tiernan and Kieran Ballinger combining off the back to take play over halfway, Sam Winney and George Miles with some more yards before Tauren Henwood offloaded in the tackle to Kieran Ballinger who popped it off again to George Bassenger to carry play over Woodford’s ten metre line. Brentwood’s ball was again quick, Tauren Henwood putting Jack Mayes into a gap, Jack finding Alex Roberts on the wing who stepped a couple before being dragged down in the 22. George Bassenger and Jack Mayes were on hand again with two quick carries, Tom Fahy then getting close to the line before the ball went wide, Tauren Henwood pulling in two defenders to open some space on the right for Ewan May who stepped and fended to tumble in at the corner, 19-5.

With ten minutes remaining in the half Brentwood did have to defend for some periods but mostly looked fairly comfortable, forcing errors from Woodford and defending solidly. With the half time whistle approaching, Ewan May fielded an attempted touch finder to the corner that hadn’t gone the distance, returning it well from his own boot to take play up to halfway. Defending from the lineout Brentwood hit hard and when the ball went loose on the right wing were quickly through on it to win back possession, Eamon Tiernan, Calvin Close and Tom Fahy with carries to take play back left. The ball then headed back to the middle of the pitch, Sam Winney with another crash up before Tauren Henwood took it flat to the line and popped the ball to George Bassenger hitting a lovely late inside line to go straight through the middle, drawing the man and finding Kieran Ballinger to his left who recovered from a small stumble to outpace the cover and go over for two of my favourite things, the bonus point try and the try before half time! Henry Bird added the conversion, 26-5.

With the slope now to their advantage and a 21 point cushion, the second half kicked off with the touchline pundits hopeful that Brentwood would press on and not assume job done and doze off…I’m very pleased to report that the former option was taken, try number five arriving with only three minutes of the second half on the clock. A Brentwood lineout on halfway was off the top quickly from George Bassenger to Keiran Ballinger and from Keiran straight to Tauren Henwood in the midfield. Tauren found Henry Bird who bumped the tackle and popped the ball off to Sam Winney in support, Sam charging through the line like a man possessed with a defender clinging to him, spinning and tussling before getting the ball away to Alex Roberts who also crashed onwards before going to ground. The ball was rapid from Kieran Ballinger off the deck, finding George Bassenger running a hard line but showing deft hands, stepping through the defender to throw the offload round the back to Tom Fahy who had timed his run impeccably, tearing past three would be tackle attempts before rounding the fullback to score in the corner for a cracking finish. Henry Bird seems to particularly enjoy conversions from that touchline, 33-5.

Six minutes later, Brentwood scored number six. Again, it was started from a lineout, this time a feigned maul saw Eamon Tiernan carry narrow to the lineout before Jack Mayes clattered into the midfield. The ball was again swift and this time to the backs, Kieran Ballinger to Tauren Henwood to Niall Clifford who held the ball just long enough to attract the defence, offloading to Ewan May who ghosted straight past his man before straightening and getting the ball away to Luke Watson to ride the tackle and go in at the right hand corner. As it transpires, Henry Bird likes conversions from that touchline too, 40-5.

Brentwood’s scoring pace slowed a little then, ten minutes elapsing before the hypothetical scoreboard (because the actual one wasn’t working for a change…) ticked over again with Woodford down to 14 men having seen yellow for too many penalties. Brentwood had had to turn rapidly when a long clearing kick from Woodford found a lot of empty field, Tauren Henwood mopping up with ample support backing him up to ensure Brentwood retained the ball. Woodford’s defensive line in contrast looked a little weary, Will McArthur rampaging straight through the middle and down the pitch from just before Brentwood’s ten metre line to past Woodford’s before passing to Sam Winney in support. Sam clattered through the tackle, spinning and offloading back to Will who went steaming in under the sticks for a popular one with his fellow front row forwards. A straightforward conversion for Henry Bird, 47-5.

Try number eight came with fifteen minutes left to play and Woodford back to 14 men again for another yellow card after too many penalties in their own 22, Brentwood scoring from a maul immediately afterwards: Andy Sutton’s lineout throw taken by Tom Fahy with Jack Mayes emerging from the bottom of the pile with the ball. Another two points for Henry Bird, 54-5.

Woodford did pull one back, scoring in the top right corner having turned the ball over and gone through a couple of quick phases, 54-10 and a yellow for Jack Mayes, but it was Brentwood who were to have the final say when Niall Clifford decided it may be the 79th minute but he wasn’t about to start making passive tackles, smashing Woodford’s attacker back two metres before his friends in Brentwood hoops piled through to turn the ball over. Henry Bird and Tauren Henwood were quick to get it wide, Calvin Close collecting the ball and opting wisely to ship it to an onrushing Alex Roberts who stepped between two and looped the basketball pass over the top to Tom Fahy, Tom taking it on before getting it back inside to Alex who was always winning the footrace down the touchline to score. Henry Bird took his final conversion of the day, 61-10 and the full-time whistle.

For Brentwood, this felt like a bit of redemption for a poor away performance against the same opponents and another day where they showed that when it all clicks, they really can play some lovely rugby. This win also secured Brentwood’s league position as third irrespective of results in the final round and will see them with home advantaged in the play-off against 4th placed Wymondham.

Next week the final league fixture of the season sees Brentwood head away to Wanstead. Way back when on a balmy September afternoon, Brentwood ran out comfortable 38-7 winners but with Wanstead currently in the 5th playoff spot and Harlow and Rochford also still in the mix for 5th depending on results, there will be no lack of motivation for them to get the win this time round; Brentwood will need to be on good form if they want to end the league fixtures on a high and take some winning momentum into the knockouts.