Senior Boys Rugby

Brentwood 1st XV - 7, Oak Bay 1st XV - 29

Match Report by Tom Dickens

The weather was bright and sunny, but the day was rather gloomy in terms of the result of the Brentwood-Oak Bay game. The first half started off with a very even tussle between the two sides. As usual, the Brentwood forwards were dominating the opposition in the early stages. Using their mighty forwards, Brentwood was the first team to score when the forwards won a ruck on the wing of the field. Julian Snellgrove took up the position of scrum half and passed the ball to Garret Graeme who ran through two defenders and scored the first try beneath the posts. 5-0

Sam Beswick then converted the try making the score 7-0.

Oak Bay scored their first try from kicking to the Brentwood try zone. A lucky bounce went right into the hands of an Oak Bay player who scored. 7-5

At half time the game was about even with Brentwood looking to be the better side. On the second half, disaster struck as Brentwood fell apart. Making countless mistakes, Brentwood was unable to create a second phase ball without knocking the ball on. The first try conceded in the second half was from a knock-on outside of the try zone which Oak Bay easily scored making the score 7-10.

The blunders did not stop there when the Oak Bay outside center ran past three men without an attempted tackle, gladly taking another five points. 7-15

Luckily, Oak Bay’s kicker forgot his 'A' game and failed to make most of his kicks, reducing the score for Oak Bay.

The turning point of the game then occurred, when the Oak Bay winger intercepted a pass from Brentwood on the Oak Bay 22-yard line and ran the length of the field to score another try, which — this time — was converted. If, instead, Brentwood had scored and converted at that point, the score would have been 14-15, bringing the game back into Brentwood’s hands. Having lost that chance, Brentwood was looking down the gun barrel traiIling by 15 points.

Brentwood almost scored a try when Michael-David Wright blocked a kick from Oak Bay. The block was recovered well by the Oak Bay defense and, sadly, nothing was made from the block.

Oak Bay scored their final try when Oak Bay winger was late tackled after kicking a grubber and the referee gave the AAA school a penalty try. The try was converted making the score 7-29.

The final whistle went and Brentwood accepted the fact that it was not one of their better games. There is much to learn from in a defeat, however, and the coaches will be sure to go through it all with the boy’s next practice.

Tom Dickens