EAST LONDON…25 BRAINTREE…27 (London 3 Essex)

BRAINTREE RUGBY UNION FOOTBALL CLUB 2017/18 SEASON.
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EAST LONDON…25 BRAINTREE…27 (London 3 Essex)

BATTLING Braintree remain hard on the heels of the early season leaders in London 3 Essex after carving out a superb away win against a strong East London side on Saturday.
Once again the black and ambers’ forwards found themselves pitted against a much larger pack, and had to use all their rugby guile to come away with the spoils.
Tree were on it from the start and took the lead after only six minutes thanks to some excellent clearing out work by flanker Harry Williams at an East London line-out.
The ball was shipped through the hands to full-back Dominic Dann whose superb grubber kick was touched down by outside centre James Abbott.
Abbott then converted his own score to put the visitors 7-0 in front in what was another virtuoso showing.
East London hit back and built up a head of pressure that resulted in a successful penalty kick three minutes later. 7-3.
The hosts’ tactic of using the boot meant Tree had a lot of kicks to deal with and on 16 minutes they ran one back at their opponents from deep.
A slick backs move ended with fly-half Joss Adams crashing over the line for their second try of the day. 12-3.
East London hit back and put the visitors back under the cosh, winning a succession of penalties that they took as scrums in a bid to take advantage of their pack weight.
It was almost inevitable they would have success at some point and they went over out wide from close range on 22 minutes for an unconverted score. 12-8.
They eventually took the lead from a Tree attack after intercepting a pass from the back of the scrum and racing away to score. 12-13.
But the visitors kept their heads up and Keelan Joslin was on hand to round off another fine moved when he dropped on an excellent Dann kick through on 32 minutes.
Abbott stepped up to kick the extra points from the conversion and then kicked a penalty with the minutes ticking down to give his side a 22-13 interval lead.
Nobody was surprised to see the hosts come back strongly in the second half, especially when Tree went down to 14 men for a tip tackle.
On 54 minutes a kick to touch led to a successful line-out which set up a driving maul that forced the visitors into giving away a series of penalties.
A converted try cut the deficit to 22-20 and all of a sudden Tree were in backs to the wall mode.
However, on 65 minutes the other Joslin brother Kingsley got on the score sheet having just come on as sub for his younger brother.
A fine break by Abbott off the back of a line-out found Kingsley in support and he burst through to score and put his side 27-20 to the good.
It was a nervy end to the game for Tree with the home side going all out to salvage the points.
They eventually managed to score a further try that brought them to within two points of their opponents, but were unable to snatch a draw after missing the conversion, which proved to be the last action of the game. 27-25.
BRUFC chair of selectors David Gilder said: “All round it was a good performance. We were slightly under the cosh at scrum time but we made good use of our own ball.
“I was very pleased with our line-outs against some much taller jumpers and our back line were superb in both attack and defence.
“All 18 players put in a real shift but Harry Williams and Jack Carslake were the stand-out performers on the day.
“It was as competitive as you’d expect a game between the third and fourth placed teams to be and we have to be pleased with taking all the points on offer.”
Joint coach Brian Joslin added: “We were well aware we’d be in for a tough game against East London and they didn’t let us down.
“We had to field a much-changed side from the previous week due to injuries and unavailability but we’ve got a better depth of squad nowadays.
“Our set piece went well and our backs were outstanding and when you’ve got someone kicking as well as James Abbott it always gives you an edge.
“I was over the moon to come away with the win but it was the manner of victory that was so pleasing. Although the score was close we were deserved winners.”
Tree have the weekend off before returning to London 3 Essex duty the following Saturday (Nov 25) when high flying Basildon are the visitors to Robbs Wood.
Braintree’s second string made it a day to remember for the club as they recorded an impressive 59-15 victory against Maldon IIs on Saturday.
BRUFC: Dann, Young, Abbott, Hine, Keelan Joslin, Adams, Clark, Hardin, W Turner, Colebrook, T Carslake, J Carslake, Pickles, Williams, Smillie. Reps: Jones, Kingsley Joslin, Downes.