Match Report

Old Brentwoods completed their 3rd victory over Thames inside 5 weeks (2 in the league and 1 in the cup) in a well fought out game on Saturday. Played out in near perfect conditions, Old Brentwoods won the toss and elected to play with the wind in the first half.

They put the visitors under pressure from the off. The opposition had a lineout midway into the Old Brentwoods half and tapped the ball down to the scrum-half. Old Brentwoods flanker and man-of-the-match Paul Buchanan burst through, flattened the scrum-half and tore all the way up pitch before being held up just short of the line. Captain Neil Hannaway was then bundled over the line by the supporting pack for the first try of the day. Full back Hughes narrowly missed the conversion, but the home team were off to a great start.

Thames put the ball deep into the opposition 22 from the kick-off and from the ruck, fly-half Reeves elected to run. He ghosted through the opposition and took play all the way up to the other 22. Stroud and Demaray supported superbly and the ball was quickly recycled. It went unselfishly through the hands in the backs & full-back Hughes cut back inside on the angle for his first score. He then converted to make it 12-0.

This woke Thames up and they came straight back into the game. They made the hard yards into the stiff breeze but just didn’t quite have the support play to undo the Old Brentwoods defence. Excellent cover tackles were put in by Demary, Gooday and particularly Buchanan who seemed to be everywhere on the pitch. Mullen and Stroud were doing plenty of work in the tight and Old Brentwoods seemed to be working even harder when they didn’t have the ball than when they did. This helped the remainder of the half to remain scoreless and finish 12-0.

Thames were playing with the stiffening breeze in the second half, but it was Old Brentwoods who opened the scoring. Thames had been pinned in their 22 for some time and they cleared their lines with a long kick which didn’t find touch. Centre Dunseath, who’d worked tirelessly throughout the game, caught the ball and launched an up and under which Thames couldn’t hold on to. His centre partner Jason Lee collected the ball and evaded the covering tacklers to go in under the posts for a try which Hughes duly converted to make it 19 – 0.

Thames had up until then been kicking away most of their possession, but Hughes and winger Ian Hannaway had returned these to them with interest. Thames then changed tack and began to grind their way up the pitch. This began to pay dividends and they spent long periods in the Old Brentwoods half. It was only a matter of time before they opened their account with a number 8 pick-up-and-go from the back of a scrum.

Their second try came with 10 minutes to go and was a result of them making the hard yards again. They hit the channels on the side of the ruck and used the maul very well. Despite some superb last-ditch tackling from Barton, Bache and Mullen, they eventually scored under the posts on what must have been their 6th phase of play for a very good team try. The score was 19-12 and it was all set for a grandstand finish.

Old Brentwoods dug deep to regain the initiative. The pack leader Pat Stroud, kept the forwards cool under pressure and Old Brentwoods went back to their game-plan of using their big forwards like Raymond and Barton to bash away at the opposition defence, before the back-row came in to clear out the rucks. Scrum-half Rigden, making a welcome return from injury, and fly-half Reeves then set the centre partnership of Lee and Dunseath off to exploit the gaps that were left behind.

Thames’ defence was stretched to the extent that they conceded a penalty in front of the posts just outside the 22. Full-back Hughes landed the penalty with the final kick of the game to make it 22-12 to the home team.

Old Brentwoods deservedly won the game thanks to the hard work of the forwards, a great performance by man-of the match Buchanan, and some unselfish play from the backs. It all bodes well for their opening game of 2003 which will be away to Burnham. Please note that Old Brentwoods is open to all (whatever standard or experience).