U13 Brentwood A win against Battersea Ironsides

Brentwood (A) 25 vs 22 Battersea Ironsides

Match Report - thanks to Nigel Bourbery

The Brentwood U13's squad entertained Battersea Ironsides at home for two matches with both A and Development XV's in action on the first team pitch. First up were the A's in what was later realised to be the previous season's Essex and Surrey champions going head to head.

Brentwood kicked off playing with the advantage of the slope. The ball went untouched by Ironsides giving them the throw for a line-out just inside their twenty two.They took the ball but the clearing kick failed to make touch and was caught on the right wing by Lewis who then ran across the pitch to his left around the Ironsides defence to score. The conversion was missed.

Brentwood eventually found themselves running the ball out of their twenty two but were halted on the 10 metre line. The ball was knocked on and from the scrum Ironsides moved the ball to their right, around the Brentwood defence and in for the equalising score.

The match continued to be keenly contested but eventually Brentwood number 8 Walls found himself in possession near the half way and in a strong run gained 15 hard metres before being halted. After a couple more phases Brentwood had retained the ball and were within 5 metres of the line, Jordan then carried across the line to move Brentwood in front again. The conversion attempt was unsuccessful.

The Ironsides restart failed to cross the 10m line and Brentwood chose and won the scrum. The ball was fed to Cappaert who went on a darting run to just inside the Ironsides twenty two where he slipped the ball to back row forward Gray who carried it on further, the forwards piled in to cross the line and Gray emerged with the ball as scorer of Brentwood's third try. Conversion missed.

Brentwood continued to press Ironsides moving the ball through several plays into their twenty two. Ironsides gained possession and kicked to clear with Brentwood backs Saunders and Acorn colliding when competing to catch the ball. The final passage of play in the first half saw Brentwood again move into the Ironsides twenty two. Ironsides conceded a penalty which was quickly taken by Inwood who a made a quick break and passed to Ravenscroft who was tackled just short of the line. The Brentwood pack drove in and with the referee playing advantage for an Ironsides infringement the ball came back to Inwood again who darted in to score. The conversion was missed making the half time score 20 - 5 to the home side.

Ironsides now playing with the slope started the second half brightly, moving into the Brentwood twenty two and, at one point with the referee playing advantage from a Brentwood knock on, appeared to cross the try line but were unable to ground the ball. Brentwood managed to clear their line from the subsequent scrum. Play remained in the Brentwood half. Brentwood conceded a penalty and the referee then moved them back a further 10m twice for not retreating the required distance when Ironsides took quick taps and went. On the third occasion Ironsides moved it quickly to their left and with Brentwood missing several tackles were able to run in and around to score under the posts. The try though went unconverted.

Ironsides now started to try and use the slope to their advantage with a series of kicks when in possession. After one passage of play had seen them move into the Brentwood twenty two and the home team clear the ball away the next saw Ironsides score again. This went unconverted.

From the restart play remained in the Ironsides half and after several passages of play Brentwood again found themselves deep in the Ironsides twenty two near the right hand corner. From a breakdown Gray again had the ball and crossed to score despite the Ironsides tackler on his back. Conversion missed. From the restart Ironsides had the better of possession staying in the Brentwood half with a couple of fine tackles from Inwood stopping moves that were heading for the try line. Ironsides kept going and moved the ball wide to score again and follow it up with the converting kick from hand rather than a tee - the matches first successful conversion. That though turned out to be the last play of the game with Brentwood finishing winners 25 - 22.

1st half
Dominic Lewis (Try)
Battersea Ironsides (Try)
Harrison Jordan (Try)
Caley Gray (Try)
Rory Inwood (Try)

2nd half
Battersea Ironsides (Try)
Battersea Ironsides (Try)
Caley Gray (Try)
Battersea Ironsides (Try) - (Conversion)

Squad
1 Kieran Bourbery
2 Charles Peberdy
3 Kyle Garnett
4 Harvey Vickery
5 Jack Watson
6 Harrison Jordan
7 Caley Gray
8 Sam Walls
9 Rory Inwood
10 Sam Cappaert
11 Dominic Lewis
12 Jayden Whitmore
13 Tom Ravenscroft
14 Max Acorn
15 Sam Saunders
16 Alfie Parkinson
17 Cairo Downie
18 Joe Bainsfair
19 Robert Port
20 Nicholas Cowen
21 David Morgan