Braintree Academy v Burnham

Report by John Lawrence

Braintree played host to Burnham on Crouch on a dry, sunny autumn day. Many thanks to Jamie Clarke for acting as referee. Braintree kicked off and applied pressure straight away. Josh Wadforth, Jake McEwan and Max Power all featured in early drives. After 8 minutes Burnham had yet to get out of their half when, totally against the run of play, the Burnham full back exploited some weak tackling to score the first try of the game which he also converted. After some indifferent play Braintree forced a penalty, Will Lawrence won the lineout and good hands saw Max Power go over in the corner, Josh being unable to convert from wide out.

Braintree started to take the game to Burnham taking a free kick quickly and after 22 minutes running a penalty which led to Max’s second try, this time Josh hitting the post with the conversion attempt. Jake McEwan was replaced by Jarryd Fouche and from the kick-off Braintree were straight back into the Burnham half. Debutant Tom Drew came very close and good recycling saw Dylan Moss score, unfortunately again Josh was unable to convert. Braintree kept up the pressure, but again Burnham were able to break out leading to the left wing scoring right on half time giving Braintree a 15-12 lead, which somewhat flattered Burnham.

Burnham started the second half strongly, keeping Braintree in their 22 despite valiant attempts to run from deep. Cameron Laudrum did well to disrupt Burnham lineout possession and Braintree continued to try to play enterprising rugby, unfortunately being let down by their handling on several occasions. Braintree continued to soak up Burnham pressure and a relieving penalty allowed them to kick into Burnham’s half. Dylan and Josh featured in an attack on the blind side which Burnham did well to contain. Then the Burnham tight head prop showed a good turn of speed making a break to half way, helped again by some poor Braintree tackling. Keelan Joslin came on for Dan Smith and a good move saw Max Power make good ground running blind to open, the ball passed down the line and only sound tackling by Burnham kept their line intact. From an attacking scrum 15 metres out Josh ran through several attempted tackles to score, converting his own try for a 22-12 lead after 20 minutes of the second half.

Jake Roots was replaced by another debutant, Rehan Nel, as Braintree exerted more pressure and Burnham found it difficult to get out of their half. Again against the run of play a careless pass led to a Burnham interception and only a magnificent last ditch tackle by Keelan prevented a certain score. Tom Burdge won a Burnham line out on the Braintree 22; Burnham continued to press and Tom was again prominent, winning a penalty when Burnham failed to release after the tackle. Braintree continued to believe in the motto “audaces fortuna iuvat” and good hands allowed Max to make a good run into the Burnham 22. Following a Burnham scrum disrupted by Jamie the ball came to Rehan who charged over from 20 metres breaking several tackles on the way. Josh converted for a more comfortable 29-12 lead and Braintree saw out the last four minutes with no further score.

Squad: Dylan Moss, Will Turner, Michael Lawrence, Will Lawrence, Jarryd Fouche, Ben Jones, Tom Burdge, Jake McEwan, Jamie Martin, Josh Wadforth, Rhys Bolton, Tom Drew, Joe Meade, Max Power, Dan Smith, Rehan Nel, Jake Roots, Cameron Laudrum, Henry Irving, Keelan Joslin.

Tea report by Will Lawrence: Braintree served up a healthy portion of lasagne. As not many stayed for a meal this meant there was plenty to go round although the quantity wasn’t as readily matched by the quality. The dish was a little plain and could have benefitted from a bit more ‘oomph’. Reasonable effort – two stars.