With Brentwood sixth in the league with sixty points and Rochford bottom with only eighteen points, the home supporters were hoping, after recent weeks, for an easy game and five more points. However, events did not turn out that way.

Director of Rugby, Steve Killington, made only one change this week. Openside flanker John Beith returned instead of the unavailable Chris Stewart.

In snow flurries, Rochford kicked off down the slope on a pitch still sticky from the recent snow and rain. Brentwood were immediately penalised for an illegal shoulder charge in front of the posts. Fortunately for Brentwood, Rochford missed the easy conversion. Play in the first quarter continued in the home side’s half with Brentwood totally out of touch and making a stream of unforced errors. After ten minutes, Rochford missed another kickable penalty.

The beginning of the second quarter saw Brentwood at last putting some phases together and a series of scrums on the visitor’s five metre line gave their powerful pack every chance for a first try. However, the back-row failed to exert a decent eight man shove and the opportunities were lost.

Brentwood at last began to function, with good work coming from scrum-half Luke Green. However, a hand in the ruck saw centre Adam Thomas yellow carded. Down to fourteen men, Brentwood’s defence was opened up by a step inside move from Rochford’s fly-half. An easy converted try gave the visitors a 7-0 lead.

Worse for the home side came when second-row Tom King was sin-binned reducing Brentwood to thirteen players. However, a quick break upfield saw Brentwood’s fly-half Declan Gillet go over for his side’s first try. The conversion was missed by full-back Dan Whitehead but the home side, despite continuing to play below par, had managed to narrow the visitor’s lead to two points.

The home side’s cause was helped when Rochford’s number eight was sin-binned just before the break.

The first half came to an end after a miserable forty minutes from Brentwood which gave little cheer to the freezing supporters on the touchline. The pack were at half pace with few forwards getting to the breakdown, allowing Rochford plenty of loose ball. Despite their weight and height advantage, the Brentwood forwards were second best with their opponents the more dominant unit.

Tom King returned and Brentwood were now at full strength going downhill and beginning to find a structure to their game. Steve Killington replaced James Metcalfe as the home side attacked the Rochford line. With scrum-half Luke Green constantly probing round the scrum and ruck, Rochford were now on the back foot as play entered the last quarter. A surge downfield led by winger Ryan Dee ended with a penalty in front of the posts. Converted by Whitehead, Brentwood were at last ahead 8-7.

This score was quickly followed by the second Brentwood try. A break by Green took play into Rochford’s twenty-two. A big drive from the scrum saw captain Josh Woodcock over for an unconverted try. Whitehead’s conversion attempt came back off a post but Brentwood’s lead had increased to 13-7. The home side were now in control but frequent handling errors always gave the hard-working Rochford side a chance of victory.

A final drive to the left corner saw Killington over for the third Brentwood try to seal victory at 18-7 and earn another four league points.

Brentwood, overtaking Luton, go up to fifth place in the league with sixty-four points from twenty games.

Thanks to Luke Green’s tenacity, the home side survived a very scrappy game against an extremely plucky Rochford side. It says something for this Brentwood team when they don’t play well and yet still win comfortably in the end. Brentwood performed nowhere near their best against Rochford and yet never really looked like losing. They are a young team still in the development phase.

The next Brentwood 1st XV game is away at fourth placed Colchester on 2nd March (ko 3.00pm).

Team: Sherwood, Snooks, Bevans-Royston, Hobbs, King, Metcalfe, Woodcock (capt), Beith, Green, Gillett, Dee, Thomas, Wylie, Stanier and Whitehead.