Chelmsford 24 Ruislip 22
(London 1 North)

Chelmsford’s Director of Coaching, Eddie Gooby, last week labelled this game as the biggest in the club’s history and said that the remaining 5 games after this would be like cup finals, as the club were teetering on the brink of the relegation zone.

Consequently, a superb all round performance last weekend, saw them register their 7th win of the season, against a strong running and muscular Ruislip side. With Barking losing their derby game to Thurrock, this win sees Chelmsford leap frog out of the relegation zone and put the pressure on Barking, condemning them into the 3rd place relegation spot. Whilst the difference between the two teams is just one point, it gives Chelmsford a huge psychological lift in their bid to escape relegation from this highly competitive league.

The visitors played their part in an entertaining game and looked a much stronger outfit than the one that took the field last November, when Chelmsford lost that game by a narrow margin. The visitors were quickly out of the starting blocks and scored the opening try after just two minutes, when from a catch and drive their muscular pack drove the Chelmsford pack backwards and scored a converted try to take an early 7 – 0 lead. Chelmsford then found themselves on the attack and following some good play through the phases, the ball went down the line and some good interpassing by the backs saw centre Oli Wright go over for an unconverted try in the corner to reduce the arrears to 2 points.

Even though Chelmsford were playing up the slope they played some good rugby and were rewarded once again for their efforts after 13 minutes, when following a scrum to the hosts, some good handling by the threequarters, saw the ball go down the back line and right wing Dan Idundun was on hand to record a well taken try to take Chelmsford into a 10 – 7 lead. Both sides were trying to play an expansive game and then after 20 minutes, the home side were penalised for a tackle in the air, the ball was drilled down deep into the Chelmsford 22 and from the ensuing line out the ball went through some phases, before a long looping pass from Ruislip’s fly half, saw their right wing go over for an unconverted try to take the visitors back into a 12 – 10 lead. A few minutes later a seering run from flanker, Seth Robinson, saw him tackled just short of the line. Ruislip were awarded the scrum and eventually the ball was cleared, but it was fielded by full back Jamie Morrish. He then passed the ball to Oli Wright, who showed a great turn of pace to run through the opposition cover in the centre of the pitch to score his 2nd try, a great effort underneath the posts and with Simon Hoult converting, Chelmsford now led by 17 – 12.

On the half hour mark, Ruislip scored their 3rd try after Chelmsford were penalised twice for being off side and a quick tap penalty saw them score an unconverted try to level the scores at 17 – 17. Just before half time Chelmsford had the opportunity to regain the lead, but Simon Hoult failed narrowly with two penalty kicks in the 37th and 42nd minutes.

The 2nd half saw Matt Lincoln come on for 2nd row, Alex Ellis, who retired with a shoulder injury. With the wind and slope in their favour, Chelmsford’s Simon Hoult put in some telling touch kicks to keep Ruislip penned in to their own half. Chelmsford were now beginning to exert pressure on the Ruislip defence and flanker, Seth Robinson, was unlucky not to score, when he was adjudged to have made a double movement. A series of penalties saw Chelmsford encamped on the Ruislip line and after 20 minutes they were eventually rewarded with their 4th and bonus point try by scrum half Ben Bayley, who darted over from ruck ball. With the conversion from Simon Hoult, Chelmsford were now leading 24 – 17. On a couple of occasions Ruislip managed to spot some gaps in the Chelmsford defence, but generally speaking the Chelmsford cover defence held firm. Even when Ruislip were encamped in their own 22, they were not afraid to run the ball at Chelmsford and eventually they did manage to score a try in the left hand corner in the 78th minute of the game. Luckily for the home side the conversion narrowly missed and Chelmsford played out the last few minutes of the game to round off an ultimately deserved victory by 24 points to 22. Unfortunately for them they did lose both flanker Seth Robinson and centre Oli Wright to hamstring injuries in the last few minutes of the game.

Eddie Gooby said after the game that it was a massive win for the squad and he thought it was a deserved win against a very committed Ruislip team. He went on to say that: “Earlier in the season we would have lost this game and it shows how far we have come, allowing for the fact that we were also without 4 of our front line squad players, who would have pushed for a starting place. I would have liked a less tense affair, but this squad always have the coaches on edge but that's part of the fun if you can call it fun or torture. This win now puts us in the mix to stay up and we now have five more cup finals to come. We have a rest week this coming weekend and this will do us a favour, as a few of the players picked up some knocks, which I hope will settle down. Added to that we will have another five players coming back into contention, plus long term injured player Josh Cavey, will be starting on his comeback trail and hopefully he will be in contention for the April games. I couldn’t have asked for anymore from the boys today, a five point victory that will fill us with confidence going into the Old Priorians game on the 19th March. Everything is now in our hands and only time will tell if this talented squad can fulfil the season’s target of staying up in this league.

The game on the 19th March at Old Priorians will be a 3pm kick off.