Match Report
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| Date - 17th December 2005 |
May & Baker -v- Old Brentwoods 1st XV |
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| May & Baker 13 Old Brentwoods 39 |
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| OBRFC went into their postponed away fixture against May and Baker knowing that a win would elevate them to third in the league, strongly placed to attempt to chase down the two leading clubs in the new year.
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| After the usual frenetic and error- strewn opening exchanges, it was the away side that struck the first scoring blow. Hywel Davies, making his first full start for the club, emerged with the ball from the midst of a maul on the opposition 10 metre line and ran unopposed the rest of the length of the pitch to score. Full back Dean Bourne stepped up to stroke over the conversion.
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| Far from settling OBRFC nerves, allowing them to shape the game and exert a strangle hold over the fixture, they seemed to become imbued with complacency, missing tackles and surrendering possession with a catalogue of knock-ons and poor decisions. May and Baker, on the other hand, were stung into action and came storming back with two tries. The first from close range after a quick tap penalty and the second the result of a soft turn over and some weak tackling.
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| After the second try OBRFC shook themselves free of the pervasive malaise that had engulfed them and regained their composure. With fly half Chris Reah marshalling the defensive line, OBRFC pressured May and Baker's three-quarters. This enabled inside centre Neil Tentner to grab an interception and race towards the line. Intelligent running and excellent support kept the ball alive, Neil Hannaway linked with his midfield partner and gave the scoring pass to blind side wing forward Hywel Davies.
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| OBRFC extended their lead going into half time. Attacking in broken play the ball was moved from right to left and No. 8 James Holmes was brought to ground on the opposition 22. Tight head prop Ed Tomlinson, hooker Matt Warrilow and winger Gary Boyce combined to clear out the ruck and open side wing forward Matthew Staines was able to scoop the ball up and continue the flow of the attack, drawing in a defender and giving a pass to second row Tim Croom on the wing. Tim Croom still had much to do and showed admirable pace and skill to outstrip the cover defence and throw two dummies on his way to scoring in the corner.
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| At the beginning of the second half the home side heaped on the pressure but, with Gary Murphy coming on at loose head and Gary Fryett reverting to his favoured tight head position, OBRFC were far more solid at scrum time and able to resist all that May and Baker threw at them.
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| Having absorbed this onslaught OBRFC proceeded to exert a measure of control over the last quarter of the match. Inspired by the bullocking, ball-carrying runs of joint man of the match Andy Born they began to generate some forward momentum and impose some pattern on what had largely been a scrappy, ugly game of rugby.
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| The control established by the away side allowed them to stretch their lead. Good possession from the lineout was capitalised on by second-half substitute Andrew West. He showed impressive strength as he ploughed into the opposition midfield, staying on his feet until support arrived to recycle possession. Neil Hannaway then chipped to the corner, where the bounce of the ball favoured OBRFC and Tom Williams was able to gather and skate in for his first score of the afternoon.
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| A second try for Tom Williams followed shortly afterwards. Sharp work at the base of the scrum by Alastair Rigden allowed the scrum half to make a dash to the half way line before floating an exquisite long pass to Tom Williams on the wing. The winger rounded off the move with a strong run, breaking a number of tackles.
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| Tom Williams's third try of a hat-trick, which earned him a share of the man of the match honours, came as he intercepted the ball wide on the left and ran in under the posts to score. His drop goal conversion of his own try was the last action of the match.
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| This was not a pretty game to watch, however there were flashes of play from OBRFC that suggest that, if they are willing to put in the hard work and able to field a settled side, and if they can eliminate the loose play and the poor individual errors, they will be able to improve and develop a tight, cohesive team capable of making a real impact in 2006.
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