Brentwood picked up a good challenging fixture on the fixture exchange when their opponents in the first round of the NPI Cup cried off.

Playing down the slope they took the lead in an exchange of penalties soon after the start.

Both sides were prepared to play open rugby at pace. An intercepted pass when Brentwood were threatening the try line led to a telling break by the Barking No 8 which resulted in an easily converted try by their right winger at the end of the first quarter.

Brentwood responded well and again put pressure on the visitor's line. Eventually Barking were forced to infringe in front of the posts and Taylor promptly slotted the penalty over.

The enforced reshuffle at Brentwood's back row to accommodate injury, a late arrival and a failure to show by one player was proving to be very successful with McConnell, Metcalfe and Williams making a very committed, competitive and effective back row combination.

Brentwood's pack started to gain more control and the home side should have made more of the territory that their pack had gained. However, on occasions they chose to kick possession away.

Eventually they got things right when Williams peeled off from the back of a scrum in front of the posts and popped the ball to Coombes who scored out on the left.

A well struck conversion attempt by Taylor was blown just wide of the posts by the strong cross wind. 11-10 to Brentwood at half-time.

A penalty by Taylor increased Brentwood's lead within two minutes of the restart. An even passage of play ended when a high ball was hoisted beyond the Barking defence.

Webster gave chase to put sufficient pressure on the fullback for Brentwood to recover the ball and McConnell, having switched back to playing in the centres, scored under the posts. Taylor's conversion made it 21-10 15 minutes into the half.

Barking started to get more possession and Brentwood were forced to defend vigorously. From a scrum close to the Brentwood line Barking were able to move the ball out to their left to score too wide out for the conversion to be successful.

As the final whistle approached Brentwood had a lineout five metres out on the left. Brook's lineout throw was knocked back to him and after some mauling Brentwood managed to release it in field.

McConnell came through in the centre to force his way over the line to cap a very fine personal performance. Taylor had no problems adding the conversion to end the game.

Next Saturday, Brentwood play Lowestoft in a League fixture at King George's, kick off 3pm.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.