Ilford Wanderers vs Old Brentwoods - Match report

On a brisk afternoon in Ilford the boys in Blue turned up in good spirit after a long Christmas break. It appeared some hand indulged more than others, with handing out the shirts being difficult with some centres looking like props.
Old Brentwood’s would be against the wind and receiving to kick start the game. It was a subdued early 5/ 10 minutes with both teams taking time to realise they were passing a ball not the mince pies with errors occurring all over the field. However it was Ilford who took the early advantage of all the mistakes, with a simple switch which broke through the OB’s defence and required the fullback Joe Davies to react but the offload was made and Ilford were over 7-0.

Old Brentwood’s were showing the signs of a heavy feed at Christmas but you could see the wheels were starting to churn. With the forwards driving the team forward allowing for a better platform for the backs that seemed to still have greasy hands from all the pigs in blankets dropping the ball as if it was the Christmas present they never wanted. However it was a moment of brilliance from a back that created the first try for OB’s, a deft grubber through the Ilford defence allowed Duracell Battery Baz to get in behind and win a penalty to which he reacted quickly and whipped the ball wide for Paddy Stu to blast his way through the defence and over the line. Joe Davies sunk the kick to bring the score to 7-7.

Ilford reacted well to OB’s breaking them down and took hold of the game for the next 15 minutes scoring wide after good hands and a flanker taking it over for the try, 14-7 . The next try came from a missed tackle giving them the chance to work over the line with a number of pick and go’s before the inevitable happened, 19- 7 missed conversion.
It was getting heated with Old B’s not feeling they deserved to be behind by two and when a flailing arm from an Ilford player caught Baz tensions rose which lead to two players being sin binned one from each team. Dave Embling kindly pointing out that neither of their new handbags were even that nice anyway.

Old Brentwood’s didn’t look the underdogs as the previous games score line suggested with the forwards driving their pack backwards in both the lineout and scrum. Old B’s were now seeing a lot more of the ball towards the end of the half. It lead to an off scrum the scrum break from Steve Pearson which set up a platform for Sam Wilkinson to unleash David Embling only to receive the ball back for a great tackling offload to the Centres who prized open a hole in the Ilford defence to allow Joe Davies to break through and score a try under the posts. Great pace from a man who’s missed the last few games from being home sick. Joe sticks it over the posts to take the game to 19-14. OB’s continued to push in the last 5 minutes of the first half with a penalty kicked into the corner and worked wide off the lineout but Ilford held strong.

Half Time – Changes Darragh on Zach off

OB’s started the second half as they ended the first moments of good rugby followed by mistakes in the rucks and in hands. However a key man was back from a stint in the mines and with a great line break through the Ilford defence, who were strong although often high in the tackle managed to offload to Jamie who stepped and dived over the line out wide, 19-19 conversion missed.

The game continued and was end to end with both teams making breaks from missed tackles but eventually OB’s decided to take a penalty at the sticks to create some pressure on the host side, Joe Davies completed the kick to give us the lead for the first time 19- 22.
The pressure did mount on the home side however they used it to their advantage even with a player off due to a high tackle worked the ball wide and again went over from close range with the big number one being the thorn yet again to OB’s. The kick was missed yet again by the home side which kept us within a penalty of winning the game.

With that in mind we worked our way up the pitch with great running the like of James Lennox and Bazzle Brush. This took us into their half and slowly rucking our way just outside their 22 before receiving a penalty for a rucking offence. The score at 24-22 and less than 10 minutes to play Joe Davies stuck the ball over the posts to take us back ahead by the narrow margin of one point.

With less than 5 minutes remaining it was important to just keep the ball we managed to take the ball to the half way line before being worked back to just outside our own 22. Ilford worked us wide and managed to take us off the pitch for an Ilford line out. The ball was worked well through the hands off the lineout and with the final minutes approaching a break was made through the middle of the OB’s defence which had held well in the second half and over they went to make the score 29-25. In an aim to waist time the kicker for Ilford attempted to be smart by readjusting the ball after originally running up to take it the OB’s players were quick to react taking the ball and running to take the kick off, the referee deemed this fair and OB’s had one last chance.

The kick was short off the restart and Ilford used the scrum to burn time to a halt. Game over.

29-25

Tries
Stuart Smyth
Jamie Pugh
Joe Davies

2 Conversions 2 penalties - Joe Davies

Report by Sam Wilkinson