On a warm and sunny day the Eels welcomed their old friends from Charlton – now called Bromley in the first fixture of the season. This was the side that made the LJRL finals last year and always turn up with some big players and a well drilled squad. With Brentwood having a large group of forwards present rotation would be the order of the day to enable everybody to get onto the pitch. Unfortunately we had several backs drop out at the last minute leaving us short in that department – particularly with our main speed merchants missing.

The match itself was a great advert for the game with some nice play from both sides and strong running. It was a close affair throughout with the result in question until the final whistle. In the forwards new boys Joseph and Connor made impressive debuts with Billy, Alex and Louis making the hard yards as always. The backs stripped of their pace on the fringes also did extremely well with a lovely try from Rian sidestepping through the line and Owen tackling well and running some nice intelligent lines. It was great to see everybody take to the field with many sampling League for the first time. Towards the end of the game we had two forwards out wide which was a novel experience for them!

Plenty to work on before we take on the Northern teams this year but it was pleasing to see our defence working well. The boys really dominated the tackle and ruck area with the MMA training looking to have paid dividends.

Well done to Bromley and we look forward to playing you again soon.

Score:
Brentwood 18 v Bromley 22

Try scorers
R Horsman 1
E Michaels 1
L Duffy 1

Conversions
R Horsman 3