Prior to the return to league rugby this weekend, last Saturday's annual friendly, with the visitors one league higher than Brentwood, gave the players the opportunity to test their fitness levels after the indulgence of the festive season.

After an even start, with Brentwood playing up the slope, the first opportunity went to Charlton Park when their No 7 stole a loose lineout ball and was stopped just short of the line by full back Coombes.

Shortly afterwards, Brentwood's tight head prop Barlow went down with what appeared to be a serious ankle injury.

With their replacement prop having damaged his knee during the warm-up, Twidale moved into the front row and uncontested scrums were played thereafter.

Charlton Park immediately scored under the posts when play restarted with a scrum. The conversion gave them a seven point lead after 15 minutes.

Brentwood's fortunes were further impaired within minutes when a cut to the head of their other prop Kirby required stitches which kept him out of the game for ten minutes.

Down to 14 men, Brentwood lifted themselves and denied Charlton Park the chance to take more control of the game.

The visitors tried to get their three-quarters moving but were thwarted by dogged resistance in which Bell seemed to relish after many weeks out of the side.

Despite their numerical advantage it took the boot of the visitor's flyhalf to put real threat on the Brentwood line.

Following one such kick their No 8 took their lineout ball and went through to increase their lead to 12 points with five minutes of the half remaining.

Buoyed on by having contained the half-time score remarkably well under the circumstances, Brentwood took a grip on the game and clearly had the better of the second half.

High balls hoisted by flyhalf Kennedy put pressure on the visitor's fullback and resulted in a number of lineout balls to Brentwood deep inside their opponent's "22".

This tactic was followed also by Coombes who had sufficient pace from the full back position to follow up on his own kick and to make an effective tackle on the ball receiver.

15 minutes into the half Brentwood's Enderby tapped Brook's lineout throw down to Catchpole who powered his way over. Kennedy converted.

Brentwood continued to control the game and gave some indication of their attacking capabilities as they moved the ball through their backs with increased confidence.

Stephens made serious inroads into the visitor's defence and went close to scoring down the right wing following a good lineout take by Killington 35 metres out on the other side of the pitch.

The scoreline might have ended deservedly in Brentwood's favour had Kennedy, who had a good second half, taken the last three strides himself when close to the posts rather than pass the ball.

Despite the injury to Barlow, which was less serious than was first feared, and several first choice players being unavailable, it was a fine performance by Brentwood.

Their line wasn't threatened in the second half and their display must have offered encouragement to their new coach, Trevor Simon, while also boosting player confidence.

Coombes again gave an impressive display of his overall rugby skills while Stephens demonstrated his potential threat when on the offensive.

Brentwood: Coombes, Twidale (English, 12), Miller, Stephens, Harding, Kennedy, Bywater, Kirby, Brook, Barlow (Twidale, 12), Killington, Enderby, Pain, Bell and Catchpole.

This Saturday (January 9), sees Brentwood take on Diss in a London 2 North league fixture at King George's in Ingrave Road (kick-off 2.15pm).

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