Ruislip 20 Chelmsford 12
(London One North)

This was a game that Chelmsford targeted as a possible win in their attempt to draw away from the bottom end of the table, however, they came unstuck on a rain sodden afternoon at Ruislip, where the hosts defeated Chelmsford by three tries to two.

Despite gaining 60% of the possession, Chelmsford were unable to dominate this game as much as they should have done, due in the main to trying to play a much too expansive passing game, particularly in the 1st half, in wet and slippery conditions when the ball should have been kept tight amongst their forwards. As a consequence, the home side adapted to the conditions much better and used their forwards to drive into the Chelmsford pack, with some good close inter passing, thus making the yardage through the middle of the park. Too many times Chelmsford tried the long pass or high ball and ultimately this was their downfall.

The game was just two minutes old when fly half Simon Hoult intercepted a loose pass, but was deemed to be in an offside position. The home side were on the score sheet after 7 minutes of play, after Chelmsford had been penalised for standing up in the scrum, and the resultant penalty to touch saw the visitors secure possession from the lineout and some good driving play saw them score an unconverted try to take them into a 5 – 0 lead. The hosts increased their lead in the 20th minute when the referee awarded the home side a penalty. A quick tap was taken, but Chelmsford had not retired the 10 metres, so another tap penalty saw Ruislip score a well taken try in the right hand corner and with a successful conversion Ruislip led by 12 points to nil. On the 35 minute mark, Chelmsford had a great chance to score, when Simon Hoult intercepted another pass, but was caught 10 metres from the Ruislip line, however, the ball was played through the phases and eventually flanker Josh Cavey got the ball over the line, only for the referee to disallow the try, as he said there was a knock on in the build up to the try. The home side’s lead was extended to 15 points just before half time, when Chelmsford were penalised once again for standing up in the scrum.

The 2nd half couldn’t have got off to a worse start for Chelmsford when the ball was taken deep into the Chelmsford 22 metre area after they conceded a penalty. Another successful catch and drive saw Ruislip extend their lead to 20 points to nil, with their 3rd try of the game. It was now a case of Chelmsford chasing the game, but too often than not the ball was either knocked on, the pass was too high to take, or the ball went behind the man. For the last 10 minutes of the game, Chelmsford changed their tactics and played much the same game as Ruislip did in the 1st half, ie. a close passing game between their forwards and this immediately paid dividends, when substitute 2nd row, Alex Ellis, forced his way over the line for a converted try to reduce the lead to 20 – 7. Ruislip suddenly found themselves on the back foot and with their defence on the retreat, Chelmsford were once again on the attack. The visitors got over the line, but the referee said the ball was held up. Chelmsford were then awarded the 5 metre scrum and after the ball had gone through the phases, flanker, Josh Cavey, managed to crash over the line two minutes from time for an unconverted try to reduce the lead again to 20 – 12. Time was not on their side, however, and following the try, the referee blew his whistle, with Ruislip running out winners by 20 points to 12.

Chelmsford’s Director of Coaching was very disappointed after the game, he said: This was the most frustrating game of the season for me. We created so many chances to score, but some players took the wrong options. Rugby is a simple game made hard by over complicating things and we continue to do that. We controlled large parts of this game, but need to learn how to win games with our own strengths. Today the forwards were strong and should have been allowed to finish things off but we kept on throwing the ball wide in testing conditions. The simple fact was Ruislip had three chances to score all game, two of their tries coming through their strength in the line outs. We had numerous chances to score, our forwards scored twice and our backs missed five chances, the end result was another loss instead of a win. We must adapt to the conditions and play to our strengths, if we are to succeed at this level.”

This coming weekend see Chelmsford play Old Priorians at home, kick off is at 2.30pm.