Match Report
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| Date - 10th September 2005 |
Old Brentwoods 1st XV -v- Burnham-on-Crouch 1st XV |
| Essex 2 |
| Old Brentwoods 22 Burnham 15 |
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| The heavy rain of Friday night and Saturday morning was welcomed by both
sets of players as it softened the hard surface of the pitch for this
first league fixture of the season.
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| By a peculiar quirk of fate the last league fixture of the previous
season had seen these two sides match up against each other and on that
occasion OBRFC had suffered a heavy and humbling defeat.
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| OBRFC's Achilles heel has often been a lacklustre start to fixtures,
conceding soft points early on before kicking into gear later in the
match. This was not the case on Saturday.
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| The early exchanges were characterised by the bullocking runs of props
Charlie Raymond and Gary Fryett, and powerhouse second row, Scott
Inglis. This inspired OBRFC as they spent the rest of the half camped
deep in Burnham territory and put on a scintillating display of running
rugby.
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| Centre Neil Tentner opened the scoring early on in the first half,
showing great strength to muscle over after adept handling by the three
quarters. Debutant fly-half Gareth Boyce added the conversion.
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| With the lineout and, in particular, the scrum yielding a plentiful
supply of ball and excellent support work from hooker Matt Warrilow,
second row lighthouse Pete Womersley and back row dynamos Andrew Born,
Nav Saini (on for the injured James Holmes) and skipper Matthew Staines,
OBRFC were able to exert near continuous pressure throughout the first
half. Only manful defence from Burnham, twice holding up electric
winger, Adam Steadman, over the line, prevented OBRFC putting the game
out of sight.
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| Eventually, however, the pressure did tell and an excellent break from
inside centre Andrew West, supported by quicksilver full-back James
Faiers, allowed Neil Hannaway to go in for his first try of the
afternoon.
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| Turning around at half time 12-0 up OBRFC were in a strong position but
there was a lingering feeling that they hadn't capitalised enough on
their first-half supremacy.
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| An early try in the second half by man of the match Tom Williams, who
demonstrated his power, pace and appetite for work throughout the match,
put OBRFC 17-0 ahead.
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| After that score Burnham rallied and, with OBRFC suffering injuries in
the pack (at one point replacement inside centre Jerry Shouksmith was
forced into action as a "blood bin sub" at wing forward) which
disrupted their set piece and the flow of their game, the visitors came back into the
match scoring fifteen unanswered points: two tries (one converted) and a
penalty.
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| At 17-15 the match was critically poised. However, OBRFC dug deep and
showed great guts and character, and going into the last quarter their
forwards wrestled the initiative back from their Burnham counterparts.
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| With replacement second row Gary Murphy bolstering the scrummage OBRFC
drove down into Burnham territory. The pressure at scrum time eventually
told when late in the second half a big drive from the OBRFC eight
caused confusion in the Burnham ranks as they tried to clear their
lines. A big tackle from Tom Williams and a turnover from Nav Saini
enabled Neil Hannaway to scoot over for his second try of the afternoon
and put the outcome of the match beyond any doubt.
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| It was a good hard-fought win by OBRFC with the promise of more to come, if
they continue to show the same hunger, desire and intensity to improve
and to perform. The 22-15 result represents a solid first victory in
what is a long season. There will be stiffer tests to come.
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