WITH the Essex League reaching the splitting point of its season, teams from the north and south of the county are now awaiting their next opponents as the top and bottom sections of division 1A merge with their respective halves of division 1B for the second half of the campaign.

Braintree Rugby Club will be a team that no-one in division 1A will relish facing as they have gone through the entire first part beating all-comers to hold a 100 per cent record in division 1B.

The Black and Ambers continued their run with a 36-3 victory against Harwich and Dovercourt last weekend and joint Braintree coach Brian Joslin was pleased with how his team performed after a slow opening to the game.

He said: “We started very sluggishly but in the end it was a good win for the boys.

“To their credit, Harwich definitely took the game to us in the first 15 minutes but once we got going they never really threatened our line and we scored some classy tries.

“Jamie Prince and Mikey Benfield were the pick of forwards although the whole pack put in a good shift.

“Joss Adams and Fergus Rollit-Mason shone in the backs with the ever reliable Craig Willis keeping the scoreboard ticking over with the boot.”

Braintree chairman of selectors, David Gilder, added: “It was a good game of rugby played in a great spirit with a fine young ref.

“We were a bit slow to start but as the game went on we slowly built more and more pressure, stifling Harwich and forcing them to try and play out of their own 22.

“But Harwich are too good a side to be in the bottom half of the table and they gave us a real test early on so full credit to them.”

Braintree now await news of their next league opponents as the top four sides in Essex League divisions 1A and 1B merge together to battle it out for the promotion places in the run-in.

Joining Braintree from the top of division 1B will be second-placed Canvey Island, who had a 31-5 win at home against Clacton last weekend.

Despite their defeat, the Seasiders are third in the table, with Maldon sitting fourth with one game left to play against bottom-placed Witham.

The top four sides in division 1A are Millwall, Stanford le Hope, Old Brentwoods and Billericay.