Match Report
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| Date - 25th September 2004 |
Loughton 1st XV -v- Old Brentwoods 1st XV |
| Essex 2 |
| Loughton 27 Old Brentwoods 5 |
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| The push for promotion from last year seems a long time ago as the Old Boys slumped to a second league defeat on Saturday. Loughton, who were convincingly beaten both home and away last year, were the hungrier of the two sides in the Essex 2 clash.
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| Old Brentwoods began the game strongly with Croom collecting well in the lineout and Raymond and Murphy packing down strongly in the scrum. The Old Boys won a number of penalties within metres of the of the Loughton line, but were unable to turn this pressure into points in the early stages, with Faiers being held up on the line at one point. Eventually, the Old Boys posted a score with Hannaway crossing the line following quick distribution from a Loughton error.
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| This was the spur which Loughton needed as they began to turn the tide of possession in their favour: a slightly unusual score ensued with the home team hooker escaping through the middle of a maul to score close in. The conversion followed giving the home team a 7 – 5 lead at half time.
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| A score early in the second half took Loughton to a 14 – 5 lead, but then the game swung to the Old Boys. However, another rasp of penalties on the opposition line brought nothing more than a yellow card for the Loughton flanker. In hindsight, a kick to take 3 points at this stage of the game may have been the prudent option.
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| Ironically, Loughton turned the numerical disadvantage to their favour. Despite some mighty tackles from Buchanan and some nifty work at scrum half by Rigden, Loughton extended their lead with a well-drilled lineout move in the Old Brentwood 22. The try effectively ended the game with 2 penalty kicks following for Loughton. Old Brentwoods need to find some form very quickly.
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