Brentwood Beats EMS

On Thursday afternoon Brentwood’s Senior Boys Rugby team was dismissed from class early, giving us early lunch and time to prepare for the upcoming game, our third of the season. The team soon assembled on Gillespie Field and began to get loose and practice skills in the indecisive grey weather. Rain began to fall as the coaches started our warm-up, but luckily it stopped just before kick-off. After losing two close matches vs. highly-ranked teams the week before, Brentwood was hungry for a win. The boys received the kick-off and took the ball into Earl Marriott’s defensive ranks with an intensity that could not be matched. Brentwood’s determination led us to gain yardage with every drive, backs and forwards alike. Before long we were right on the try line with the ball in Ethan Y’s hands, who used his cunning steps to beat his defender and score Brentwood’s first try with authority. This opened the floodgates for Brentwood, who went on to score three more tries (by Treasure A, Cameron W & Keiran MH) in the first twenty minutes. Brentwood’s biggest achievement of the game was conceding zero tries to the our opponents, a feat achieved through sheer determination. The biggest example of this was at the end of the half, with Earl Marriott just metres from the try zone. Although they crashed the ball up repeatedly, Brentwood’s defence came together to make tackle after tackle over a tiring five minutes, until they finally forced an error, ending the half.  Though it was not an error-free game, Brentwood played with a cohesiveness and a team mentality which were large contributors to such a decisive victory. The team got to implement some new plays for the first time in game conditions, which proved very successful, and even led to a couple of tries. Every single player on the team got the chance to aid Brentwood’s victory, showing the depth of the rugby team. It was a great way to end the week and after a restful Easter Break, the boys will resume practices on Tuesday, ready to build on this victory. Keiran MH, Rogers ’17