It's been a long time since I've felt the need to write a match report but after our performance on Saturday I felt it was time to get this going again...

First let me fill you in on the past few months, Brocks have been playing better and better with each performance pushing us towards that illusive first win unfortunately it's been tough to get the same 1st XV out 2 weekends running and results simply haven’t reflected our progress. Saturday was the first time I personally felt we had actually picked our 1st XV from a good pool of available players so well done to everyone at Brocks that helped us field not only a good 1st XV but also filled the 2nd XV (who won very convincingly 26-12).

Saturday was a fairly nice day the sun was shining and the drive to Orpington's ground was a pleasant one. However little did we know, Orpington's field is placed in the middle of a wind tunnel that would discourage Antarctic explorers! We made our way out onto the field nice and early for some good prep and at this point realised that we had no wingers and that Chris Bristow and Adam Holt would have to stand in officially meaning we had 10 forwards on the field, 11 if you count our "tiny" number 10 :)

Kick off went well no sooner had we taken the ball cleanly we moved it straight back into the opposition half with good support from the forwards to keep the quick ball coming despite obvious efforts by Orpington to slow it down illegally. Every possession Orpington was met by tough tackles by the backline and back row, this was clearly just as big a shock to Brocks as it was to Orpington... but slightly more painful for Orpington! Eventually the Ref quite rightly grew a pair and joined in the game, with Orpington continuing to cheat at the breakdown we were awarded quite a few justified penalties and used them tactically very well to push forward and gain 3 points.

Brocks 3-0 and we kept the pressure on pushing all the way into Orpington’s 22 before suspicious turnover in a ruck and a very lucky bounce on a clearance kick turned the tide of the game and Orpington we're back in it taking the score to 5-3, Brocks returned to the line with heads held high as every single one of us knew while Orpington had the lead they had been living off our scraps and if we kept playing good rugby we would surely have this win in the bag.

The next 20 minutes was a upfront battle and Brocks dominated in the scrum and at the breakdown however through a little bit of individual excellence the ball was kicked into space and chased well, never fear however as our defence made it back and our line was ready for any onslault Orpington could muster. Unfortunately one of us was a little too ready and Potter decided to smash their centre despite him offloading the ball just after he turned 18 and the tackle landing on his 35th birthday, some people may consider this to be a shocking late hit but just remember Lorrie has two dodgy hamstrings and clearly had trouble bringing himself to a stop. If we showed one serious problem during the whole day is was the failure to stay focused on penalties and instead of our defence being ready for the quick tap we we're left watching as a few weak tackles failed to stop Orpington extending their lead to 12 - 3.

This clearly struck a nerve with the Brocks as we chased down the kick and turned over almost immediately and with half time approaching we hit them hard determined to come away with points before the break. Our lineout was instrumental in gaining the territory we needed with Bomber Harris and our new 4 man lineout proving unbeatable. The try was a attacking forwards one and with some impressive carries up the middle and some strong support finally the ball was popped to Danny Rankine who drew the last defender and gave the try scoring pass to Mahoney finishing in the corner and in style...

The 2nd half may not have been eventful on the scoreboard but the game was full of great defence on both sides to hold the game at 12 - 8. In my opinion we should have beaten Orpington and were very unlucky not to.

When I asked Captain Ian Bender for a man of the match he quite rightly said "it was a team effort to hold Orpington and we all put in a performance to be proud off" on a side note he wants us all to come along to next week’s match with the same attitude and be ready to put our bodies on the line to kick the stuffing out of the on form Foots Cray

Points earned

J.Mahoney                   5             L.Potter              3