Match Report
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| Date - 29th October 2005 |
Old Brentwoods 1st XV -v- Millwall 1st XV |
| Essex 2 |
| Old Brentwoods 21 Millwall 12 |
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| Having suffered a brief series of close but ultimately disappointing
defeats over the past few weeks, OBRFC were keen to make the most of
their home advantage and put their 2005-06 campaign back on track with a
stirring performance and a rousing victory.
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| The opening exchanges were hotly contested and pretty even, with both
sides solid in defence and probing in attack. The deadlock was broken
after ten minutes when Millwall's powerful No. 8 muscled his way through a
couple of tackles and stormed over the line for the opening score.
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| OBRFC responded well and, with half backs Alastair Rigden and Chris Reah
pulling the strings behind an impressively solid pack, hit back at
Millwall hard.
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| After resisting a period of sustained pressure Millwall had a scrum on
their own line and the opportunity to win ball and clear to touch.
However, Charlie Raymond, Matt Warrilow and Ed Tomlinson, the OBRFC
front three, and Tim Croom and Tim Cuthbert, in the "engine room", had
other ideas and led a massive drive by their pack which enabled Chris
Keogh, the ever-industrious OBRFC No. 8, to secure the ball against the
head. With Millwall in somewhat of a state of disarray the ball was
swiftly fed through the back line allowing outside centre, Tom
Williams, to score under the posts.
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| The score-line stayed at 7-all for the remainder of the half, though
with a plentiful supply of ball from a dominant scrum and lineout,
OBRFC were constantly asking questions of the Millwall defence and in
the process sapping their energy.
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| Both skilful sides were committed to playing open, attacking rugby and
keen to put width on the ball at every opportunity which made for an
attractive spectacle.
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| At the start of the second half OBRFC turned the screw, cranking up the
pressure on Millwall another notch. As Millwall tried to break free of
the shackles applied by OBRFC during these early exchanges, James
Holmes, OBRFC's blindside wing forward, joint man of the match and a
constant thorn in Millwall's side, and Andrew Born, a second-half
substitute at No.8, were able to turn over possession just outside the
Millwall 22. Neil Tentner, seizing this opportunity, burst on to a
perfectly-timed short pass from Alastair Rigden and showed trademark
aggression and power to hand off two would-be tacklers and score under
the posts.
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| Buoyed by their success early in the second half OBRFC continued their
attacking endeavour, using the potent threat of Adam Steadman on the
wing, the other half of the joint man of the match award for his
beguiling running in attack and phenomenal defensive work, and Matthew
Brown, awesome at full back.
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| A quick tap penalty near the Millwall line allowed Andrew Born to tank
into the opposition, finally to be brought to ground just under the Millwall posts. The
ball was quickly recycled by Matthew Staines so that Chris Reah was able
to stride imperiously over the line for OBRFC's third score. Dean Bourne
duly stepped up and slotted his third conversion of the afternoon.
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| The final twenty minutes of the match saw Millwall fight back manfully,
mounting a sustained assault on the OBRFC line and, though they were
unable to relieve the pressure for any significant period of time,
OBRFC's defence, boosted by the introduction of hard-tackling centre
Jerry Shouksmith, was resolute, holding out the marauding Millwall
hordes until the very last play of the match.
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| This was a hard-fought and hearting victory for OBRFC, founded on graft
and earnest endeavour and lit up with no small measure of
attacking zeal, invention and flare. Should they continue to show the
same attitude and application and build on this performance over forthcoming weeks,
OBRFC can look forward to enjoying further success.
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