Brentwood U13s - 29
Beckenham U13s- 21

Brentwood U13s got their season off to a winning start with an encouraging victory over their visitors from Kent. This was the boys first match at Youth Level and they got off to a flying start with a brace of early tries from back row Jack Cowie. This was the first time the team had played on a full size pitch, following their step up from Mini-Midi rugby, and these early scores gave the team plenty of confidence.

The forwards were dominant in the early exchanges and a third try was soon added by Henry Bird, who also added the conversion to give Brentwood a 17-0 lead.

Beckenham slowly got into the game and responded with a good try, with their backs passing the ball well, they created an overlap that was finished off by their right winger.

Brentwood were able to use their entire squad to ensure all the boys got game time and with the back row marauding around the pitch another try was duly scored with good approach play rounded of by a strong run from Hooker Max Costello.

Brentwood had plenty of new boys getting their first taste of club rugby and they all adapted well. A lack of support play meant that Brentwood were often penalised for holding on at the breakdown and this is an area that will need to be improved on in future weeks.

Beckenham took advantage of the number of penalties being conceded and added a couple of scores of their own, again through their backs, to reduce the deficit to 22-14. Brentwood responded with their best passage of the match with forwards and backs linking well and Gregory Bowlt rounding off a good move to score in the corner. Henry Bird added a very fine conversion from the touch line and despite a late score from Beckenham, Brentwood held on to win 29-21.

This was a good start to the season for the boys with the whole squad participating and the new players fitting in well. Next week sees the boys take on Beccehamians RFC and the team will be looking to build on this first victory.