Wanstead 22 - 20 BERFC A/B

With half term and sickness on top of our lengthy injury list, only fourteen players made a trip east to the home of Essex Div 2 side Wanstead RFC, and with one of the party nursing an injury sustained at a party the previous evening, the outlook could have been better. Nevertheless, with a bit of a shuffle we managed to cobble together a team, and Wanstead were good enough to lend us a player to make up a full complement – and we kicked off on a bright and breezy morning with the wind in our faces.

Three minutes in, and the scrum was held up as we witnessed the first of many visits that day from the man with the two Styrofoam cups and plastic bags to remove one of a large number of Richard IIIs that adorned the playing surface. After several unsuccessful scoops – and a bout of retching, that patch was clear – and we were off again.

Despite Lawrence having to move up from the second row to tight head, BERFC had good success in the scrums, taking several against the head, and with twelve minutes lapsed, the aforementioned crossed to open the scoring for BERFC 0 – 7 .

BERFC then spent a good period in the Wanstead half and another successful scrum in the Wanstead 22 saw the ball spun out to the backs, who attempted a move from the training ground. Unfortunately the ball was spilled and Wanstead were able to hack clear and chase through to touch down and close the gap 5 – 7. Friendlies are an opportunity to hone those training ground moves, and it was good to see the boys practising, but with our on loan winger not au fait with our moves – a little bit better communication to him may have seen us less exposed.

The Wanstead score brought renewed enthusiasm from the home team, notably from their strong running number eight, and five minutes before half time he was able to bulldoze across the BERFC line to take Wanstead into a half time lead 10 – 7.

With the Wanstead hooker going AWOL during the break – the second half resumed with uncontested scrums. BERFC picked up early in the second half in similar fashion to the early period in the first half, working hard on the basics and playing some good structured rugby. With first Ryan, and then Harrison halted inches short of the line, Afam finally brushed aside several tackles to cross, and 5 minutes later Henry, putting in a shift on the wing, touched down in the corner to put BERFC ahead once more 10 – 17, with 15 minutes remaining.

Wanstead fought back once more up the slope, and after another strong run from their number 8, their scrum half was on hand to reduce the gap to 15 – 17. BERFC then kicked a penalty to make the scores 15 -20 but with minutes left on the clock, a penalty to Wanstead was fed to their danger man, and once again he brushed off BERFC tackles to cross under the posts and leave a straightforward conversions for Wanstead to win the game 22 -20 .

The stop start nature of the game courtesy of the local dog population and numerous visits for injuries didn’t help the flow of the game with the final whistle not blowing until after 12:30 – but a gutsy display from Wanstead won the contest. Thanks go to the two boys who made up our numbers. For the BERFC boys – some good rugby played in patches and a fairly decent showing from reduced numbers.