Braintree 36 - 0 Ilford

BRAINTREE kept their hopes of securing a play-off spot alive with a superb victory over promotion rivals Ilford Wanderers at Robbs Wood.

Victory brought the black and ambers to within three points of the second-placed visitors and avenged their narrow defeat to the east London side in the first game of the New Year.
Having not played competitively for a month Tree looked a little rusty in the early exchanges but managed to contain their bigger opponents in a scoreless first 25 minutes.
They did have an early chance of points but missed a fifth minute penalty and then almost immediately afterwards lost influential back Kingsley Joslin to a blow to the head.
It was the youngster’s third concussive injury of the season and meant a precautionary trip to hospital and a premature end to the current campaign for the talented inside centre.
Prop David Baker also suffered an early knock and had to be replaced by James Jones although he was able to return to the action later in the game.
Ilford slowly built up the pressure on their hosts, winning a series of penalties in Tree’s half which saw them progress forwards but fail to notch any points.
But the game turned when the home side’s number eight John Smillie managed to turn over possession and the ball was cleared to safety
Tree then made good gains in territory and managed to force two penalties, both of which were kicked to touch.
They secured line-out ball from the second kick and drove forward to enable Smillie to crash over for a try on 25 minutes. 5-0.
That man Smillie was involved again five minutes later when he picked up from back of a scrum and drove forward supported by fellow back rower Mike Benfield.
The ball was recycled and fed to fly half Craig Willis who was too powerful for the Ilford defence and scored another unconverted try out wide to give his side a 10-0 interval lead.

The beginning of the second half was as closely contested and free of points as the start of the first and it took Tree until the 63rd minute to add to their tally.
Play went through three phases from a penalty ball with the marauding John Smillie crashing over for his second try of the game, with scrum-half David Martindale converting for 17-0.
Tree were in no mood to let up and as Ilford tired they twisted the knife to keep the scoreboard turning over.
A poor re-start and the failure to concede 10 yards on the referee’s instructions led to home ball at the scrum on 65 minutes and possession being secured again.
This time the ball was fed to blind side winger James Moore, whose nineteen and a half stone were unstoppable on the charge, his try being converted by fellow wing George Crane.
On 73 minutes full back Tom Drew joined in the scoring out wide following a successful line-out and slick passing in the backs, Crane again converting. 31-0.
And with the clock ticking down centre Joss Adams skipped through Ilford’s increasingly ragged defence after another good line-out to round off a fine day for the homes side.

BRUFC Coach Brian Joslin said: “Unfortunately I only got to watch the first 20 minutes of the game.
“I had to take Kingsley to A&E to get checked out after he was concussed but fortunately he’s okay although he has to take a break from the game now.
“When I left it was still 0-0 and quite tight, but my fellow coaches told me this was probably our best win of the season.
“Considering we hadn’t played for a month and were taking on the league’s in-form side who were unbeaten in 2016 and had only lost once all season we have to be very happy.”

The 2nd XV completed a great weekend for the black and ambers with a thrilling 38 - 43 away win against Millwall. Rhys Boulton scored in the last minute (his second try of the match) to secure victory in his first senior game. Jamie Martin also impressed at Scrum half on his debut. The futures bright!

Tree return to action on April 2 when they entertain Maldon at Robbs Wood looking for a win which will pile further pressure on Ilford in the hunt for the league’s solitary play-off spot.

BRUFC: Drew, Whyatt, Adams, Joslin (J Moore), Crane, Willis, Martindale, Perry, Sewell, Baker (Jones), Fitzearle (Aldridge), Apps, Carslake, Benfield, Smillie.