Final game day of 2017, both senior teams at home and a Christmas player’s party to follow, what more could you want? OB 1st XV were at home to Pegasus Plamerians, the game promised to be a hotly contested one if the previously away fixture was anything to go by.

Old Brentwood started the game physically and looked to batter the ball up the pitch with strong forward carries from Steve Pearson, David Embling and Sam Wilkinson. Pegasus forwards matched OB forwards physicality and kept OBs in their 22. Quick ball called and Basil Letts wiped the ball to Jamie Pugh [back at his favoured 10 position] running a dummy switch move creating a hole in the Pegasus defence. Jamie showed us his gas and charged up the pitch were he made a calculated pass to the Philip Hardly who paced away from the chasing backline to score in the corner. L. Taylor failed add the extras.

Old Brentwood discipline cost them the ball and territory following the try. Pegasus kicked for touch and gained themselves lineout 5 metres out. A clean lineout lead to a strong platform, which got Pegasus across the line for a try, they also failed to convert the kick.
From the restart an aggressive chase and isolating the catcher gifted OBs with a turnover in midfield, the ball was quickly shifted wide to Zach Yeldham in space who finished expertly for his 1st try of the season.

The tide was changing and you could really tell that the words from Coach Max were sinking into the OBs side. “Play with momentum” and “have options in attack”

What followed was complete dominance from Woodies. Dean Bourne got his first of the day with a great line through the middle, showing his strength to push past the soft tackles. Making it 15-5. Basil Letts quickly followed with one of his signature No.9 snipes. Pegasus ill-discipline lead to a penalty, Baz took a quick tap and breezed past a disorganised Pegasus defence scoring between the sticks. Luke Taylor added the extras, which concluded the half at 22-5.

OBs collected the restart and continued where there left off in the first half. Strong carries from the James Lennox and Richard Clarke sucked in numbers to the defending rucks, this allowed the back row to play off 10 attacking the ruck inspectors. This was very successful as S. Wilkinson broke free and off loaded to supporting D. Bourne, using is power and speed to get over the line for his second try. Luke kicked the conversion.

Pegasus rallied there players for a response and with a quick switch in kicking directions left OBs disorganised from the restart. Pegasus gathered and attacked intelligently going wide with their backs against OBs forward pack, credit to their young no. 9 for pace and feet work that danced him around the OBs defence. (29-10)

Moments later with after a successful restart take from Steve Pearson, an annoyed OBs went back to their successful platform, with forward runners D. Embling and J. Turrell carrying tight to the ruck, allowing D. Bourne and S. Smyth to play of 10. S. Smyth collected an offload from Bourne and ran clear of the main defence with two to beat. Slowing and waiting for support, Basil arrived at pace collecting the ball showing great feet to round the fullback to score the 6th try for OBs and his second. (34-10)

Old Brentwood’s tails were up with 55mins gone, a successful turnover from D. Bourne in his own half the ball was shipped out to James Lennox who committed the defender below throwing a high ball out wide to Stuart Smyth. He gathered and raced pass the gain line, crossing the halfway line with fullback and winger to beat, the Hooker chipped both, gathering the ball after a kind of bounce, sprinting clear finishing with the Woodies supporters cheering. L. Taylor converted to make it (41-10).

Max made changes to freshen things up – James Lennox replaced with George Jardine, Basil Letts with Darragh Harnett and Josh Turrell with Liam Tilly

Continued pressure from Old Brentwood’s meant we spent the remainder of the game on the front foot in Pegasus half. The high tempo of OBs had worn down the oppositions defence; holes were appearing frequently, the first to exploit was D. Bourne creating a 2 vs 1 putting Steve Pearson through for 8th try of the day. L. Taylor kicked the extra 2 points.

Pegasus in an attempt to relieve pressure cleared there lines with a kick, this was confidently gathered by full back Rhys Newton who danced through an number of tackles passing the ball out wide to winger Dan Krout. D. Krout took the ball back to the gain line before being put out for a lineout. R. Clarke and G. Jardine got D. Bourne high in the sky to steal the Pegasus lineout. Darragh Harnett zipped a pass on to forward runners Liam Tilley and S. Wilkinson both causing havoc in midfield, the arriving lineout pod collected the ball allowing D. Bourne to run free crossing the line for his hat-trick. L. Taylor slots the kick between the posts again. (55-10)

With 5 minutes to go Pegasus had a scrum on the 22 after an old Brentwood knock on. Wanting to right that wrong George Jardine rallied the forwards for a big scrum. A successful counter strike on the ball followed with an impressive shunt from all eight gave Woodies the ball back. Darragh, quick to react to the turnover found Jamie in space who used his speed to race straight through the sleeping defence scoring between the post for Old Brentwood’s 10th try, Luke converted the his 6th of the day making the final score (62-10).

MOTM - D. Bourne