Brookes 1st XV continued their unbeaten start to the BUCS season, registering a third straight win 38-15 against a competitive De Montfort side. Joe Hunt contributed 14 points for the hosts with a try, three conversions and a penalty, whilst Piers Martin (2) Harry Vigar and George Brazier also dotted down for the hosts. James Pike kicked two conversions and controlled the game at fly-half to win the man-of-the-match award. Matt Wells, Will Thompson and Ben Pryor were the try scorers for De Montfort.

Brookes have prided themselves on quick starts so far this year, but were made to pay for some lacklustre tackles in the opening minutes of the game, Wells going over in the corner after just three minutes to give De Montfort a surprising lead, the conversion missed from out wide. The 1st XV responded in the 23rd minute, De Montford penalised at the scrum – a theme that would occur throughout the game – and Hunt split the posts with the penalty to reduce the deficit to 3-5. The 1st XV forwards then started to utilise their superiority in the scrums, setting the platform for the backs to break through the visitor’s defence, Joe Hunt running the support line to race over the whitewash and putting over the conversion to make it 10-5 in the 26th minute. There would be a second for the 1st XV just three minutes later, Piers Martin showing tremendous footwork to evade the scrambling defence of the visitors and crossing the line to make it 15-5. Hunt had no issues with the conversion.
The lead was extended in the 36th minute, Brookes electing to kick to the corner after their pack outmuscled the visitors once again in the scrum. Just five meters out, there was no stopping the driving maul as Vigar crashed over to make it three tries for Brookes in just 10 minutes. Hunt once again kicked the conversion to make it 24-5. De Montfort would have the final say in the first half, Thompson going over the left corner after sustained pressure from the visitors. The halftime scoreboard read 24-10 as a result.

Much like the first half, it was De Montford who started the first half strongest, Pryor going over after 47 minutes to further narrow the score-line to 24-15, but the conversion was missed. The game then became a tight affair, both teams looking to gain a vital score. It would be the 1st XV who gained that score, George Brazier cutting through at short-range to once again put daylight between the two sides and getting a try-bonus-point for the hosts in the process. Pike, now kicking in place of Hunt, extended the score to make it 31-15 after 63 minutes. Brookes then scored again to add extra-gloss to the score-line in the 77th minute, Martin put into space to race under the posts untouched. Pike struck the conversion to make it 38-15, and that would be the final scoreboard at full time.

Director of Rugby Joe Winpenny said after the game “we knew the game plan that De Montfort would bring to use, they are a very physical side that use route one to try and barrel through the defence. The first five minutes acted as a wake-up call for us, so we’ll be looking to work on our tackling technique in the training sessions on Monday.” Winpenny also reserved praise for the attacking intent shown by the 1st XV throughout the game, saying “I was really happy with our attack, we’re continuing to show clarity and structure in our style of play and we knew that if we played wide today we would pull them out of shape, a message I relayed to the lads at half time. To score 38 points is really pleasing, and we’ll look to play even better in our next fixture (against Nottingham 2’s on 13th November)”.

Brookes 2nd XV had a tougher test against NTU 2nd XV, and eventually went down 45-18 despite showing tremendous spirit throughout the game and leading at half time. They are in cup action away to Birmingham 3rd XV, whilst the 3rd XV are also away to Lincoln 2nd. The November 13th clash promises to be an enthralling clash, with both sides looking to go top of the table.

Stephen Lewis