Brentwood 5 Ruislip 17 (London & South East Division: North 1) 25th February 2012

Brentwood 5 Ruislip 17 (London & South East Division: North 1)
25th February 2012

by David Anderson

Back in October, Brentwood travelled to Ruislip and won a nail-biting fixture 24-22 with a last minute drop goal by fly-half Dan Whitehead.

Since then both clubs have remained in mid table. Ruislip are currently 8th in the table with 47 points and one place ahead of Brentwood with 45 points.

With the game rearranged due to snow and ice, Director of Rugby Steve Killington was forced to make seven changes to last week’s team, mainly through non-availability.

Coming in were Dave Brooks (hooker), Terry Snooks (prop), James Metcalfe (blindside back-row), Glenn Stannard (fly-half), Ryan Lee (centre), Scott Dowler (wing), and Chas Smith (full back). With the teams having clashing strips, the female referee asked Brentwood to change to their grey kit.

Brentwood kicked off playing uphill into a setting sun and a chilly wind. The early play saw the home side in possession and driving up field with their effective pick and takes routine. However, losing the ball in open play allowed Ruislip to gain the initiative and split Brentwood’s defence before scoring an unconverted try in the left corner.

The home side’s pack were clearly committed and faced up to their aggressive opponents leading to bouts of “handbagging” which were soon stopped by the referee who overall had an excellent game.

With Brentwood’s new look back line looking a bit disjointed, tackles were being missed. Ruislip took advantage of a poor tackle by back-row John Beith to run in their second unconverted try.

From the kick-off, stung by this score Brentwood drove into Ruislip’s 22. A charge-down followed by the forwards driving over the try line saw prop Terry Snooks scoring his first try for the club. The conversion was missed by full-back Chris Smith, who despite being only seventeen, showed much promise for the future. He deserves a regular slot in the team if only to gain experience. (ed)

The second quarter saw Ruislip mainly on the attack but Brentwood’s defence held out to half-time. With the score 5-10 at the interval, the game was well balanced with Ruislip’s attack adequately contained by Brentwood’s defence. In the set pieces Brentwood finished the half the stronger, with the line-outs being easily won with immaculate throwing from Northall and secure catching from Beith.

After a good half, the Brentwood pack’s efforts eased allowing Ruislip to press on into the home side’s 22. However, there was more good defensive work as John Sproul replaced Terry Snooks in the front row.

As the half progressed and Ruislip’s pack tired, Brentwood started hammering on the try-line. With Ruislip’s scrum-half off injured, a second try and victory looked probable for the home side. But impatience leading to unnecessary errors stopped any build-up in phase play.

With the backs unable to make any real progress, Smith changed places with the out of form Stannard. However, not given enough time to settle into this new role, Smith was unable to make any impact. And so the last big moment of the match belonged to Ruislip when they scored a break away try winning the game 17-5 and taking the four points.

This was a very disappointing result for the home team and its supporters. Brentwood had lost this match more than Ruislip had won it and the faces of the players clearly showed their reaction to this defeat.

Little mistakes, poor tackling in critical areas and a lack of tactics – especially not using the glaring sun and the slope in the second half – had led to their downfall. Scrum-half Luke Green won “man of the match” for his non-stop display and special mention is due to the pack’s golden oldies of Brooks, Metcalfe and Killington.

Brentwood remain ninth in the league with 45 points.

Team: Sherwood, Northall, Brooks, Snooks, Woodcock, Killington, Metcalfe, King (capt), Beith, Green, Stannard, Amato, Wylie, Lee, Dowler, and Smith.

Next week’s 1st XV game is away at bottom placed Braintree who have 11 points. (ko 3.00pm)