A fantastic second half from Braintree U14s

Captain's Report

Today was a tale of two halves with the first half being a bit of a disappointment conceding early tries down to basic errors which we should of never of given away so easily. This was down to not believing in ourselves and giving the opposition too much respect, which meant we went into halftime 24-5. In the second half we started to believe in ourselves and the adrenaline took over and our intensity stepped up meaning we put them on the back foot. We scored some good tries through set forward moves which we had practiced a lot for. Also some great team tries out wide which gave us belief, that we were back in the game. With a few decisions not going out way with a try being disallowed, and them scoring a try in the corner due to a few miss tackles, we couldn't get the win. We should all learn from today that we can do it and beat them.
From Jack

Match Report

Braintree travelled to play Southend for the third time this season, with Braintree coming off second best on both the previous occasions and looking to try and turn the table this time.

For the first 20 minutes it looked like Braintree were going to give Southend back line too much room to play, which combined with a couple of basic errors (which were uncharacteristic of Braintree), we found ourselves chasing the game at 19-0 down.

From the side lines it looked as if some Braintree heads had started to drop and a lack of self belief was being let in.
However, from a lineout in the Southend half, the forwards started to string some good supportive runs and found themselves 5 meters off the Southend try line. Braintree tried hard, picking from the base to finally have Harry Plester force his way over.

All of a sudden Braintree realised they needed to play to their strengths and try and keep the ball away from their wide players.
This worked for a short period until Southend punished Braintree for not enough players following up on a clearance kick. They moved the ball wide and although we put in a couple of brave tackles somehow they found just enough space to score near the corner.

With the half time, score at 24 -5 it was going to be a tough half and Braintree could either let the flood gates open or stand up and be counted as they had shown for a brief spell in the first half, fortunately it was the latter.

The forwards started to dominate Southend and were awarded a penalty which was kicked for the lineout and from a set call moved to a secondary drive and Freddie Mansfield drove over to score near the corner.

From the restart Southend, now under more pressure in the back line were forced to kick only to find Harry Mclaggan on the end of it, who weaved his way though the defence to score.

Braintree forwards were now in full stride and working hard to gain ground, which forced Southend to give away another penalty, which we kicked into the Southend 22. From the lineout, Braintree put a few phases together and Harry Plester managed to cross the line and score only to have it disallowed for blocking occurring.

Southend cleared their lines well and made ground into Braintree's half, where Braintree conceded a penalty and with quick hands scored in the corner. But again Braintree fought to get back into the Southend end half with the forwards making some strong runs and with some quick ball the Braintree backs showed what they could do and cut through the Southend defence for Cooper Baker to score and for Archie to convert a difficult kick.

That was to be the last score of the match, but right to the the final whistle Braintree didn't give up, which was a true credit to them.
Another loss against Southend, but what have we learnt? Hopefully to believe in ourselves from the start of the game, as if we put our minds to it and play to our potential, we will win.
But it has to be said it was a great turn around boys, you showed great spirit to come back in the game from being down.
Well done boys.