Worst defeat in clubs history away to Crusders

The last time these two met it was a great day for the Brentwood side as it marked their first win in the EAST RL Premier. However with a much weaker side the had it all to day away at North Herts this week with more representatives from the u17 and A side playing than the usual 1st graders it was going to be a tough task against a side that do the basics in attack and defence extremely well!

It was not long before the barrage started and with only 13 men the eels were with no substitutes and the side lack of playing time together meant the crusaders were exploiting the eels easily and the score slowly racked up in the first half. A good 10 minutes of pressure from Brentwood was not up to the usual standard with half back Chambers being dragged into the ruck the creativity was lacking and Crusaders dealt with it easily, the onslaught Continued with Crusaders approaching 30 points before half time. Eels manage to conjure some energy from somewhere and get some shape into their game and a lovely set move see Big Cameron Furlong gallop through a massive gap in the crusaders defence only to offload to the illusive Mike Hogan who brushed off 3 or 4 tackles before dotting down under the posts for the eels first score, chambers converted. HT 30-6.

The second half started the same as the first with eels contesting for a while but still lacking creativity unless their was broken play. The rain started to come down heavily and this did not help the handling conditions for eels and ultimately the error count. Some soft tries were scored and frustration was kicking in. Another solid set from Brentwood enabled Hogan to grab his second but conversion was missed bringing the score to 48-10. The referee shortly after decided to Sin Bin Cameron Furlong for reacting to an off the ball tackle, he then allowed the quick tap penalty to be taken to which crusaders crossed the 50 point barrier. The score board was only dented once whilst the eels were down to 12 men. However there was only 12 minutes of game time left but the referee concluded there was 22 minutes left after the return from sin bin for prop furlong. which Crusaders took full advantage of and stepped up the gas as the eels gave up and made the most of a tired ragged defence. FT 80-10

Coach Sherwood had this to say "Credit to Crusaders they gave us a lesson today, but we knew that before we come here they do the basics well and against a makeshift team it suits them. The referee did not help proceedings but ultimately his decisions were never going to change the end result. They boys stuck at it and turned up a lot of teams would of taken the 24-0 and not turned up but that's not our culture. I do believe in fait though and this has happened for a reason and they now have got fire in there bellies for next weeks cup final against the same Opposition, what more could you ask for!"