Chelmsford 5 Sudbury 53
London North East 2

Chelmsford’s disappointing season continued on Saturday against the highly placed Sudbury team. Chelmsford through injury or unavailability only fielded eight of the players who had played the previous week and again sustained a number of injuries during the game. At no time did Chelmsford’s heads go down and the team were giving their best to the end. There were a few plusses, however, Saturday saw a return of Will Williams, fresh from his army duties, who was probably Chelmsford’s best player and it looked as though Paul Redford was now getting back to his ‘old self’ following injury last year.
Playing up the slope in the first half, Chelmsford were two tries behind within the first fifteen minutes. Firstly, through a break in the centre and then through a quick scrum. Both these tries originated from attacks close to the scrum when quick and decisive tackling was required. For the next twenty minutes, Chelmsford were very much in the game and if they had kept that score at 12-0 they could have been in the game in the second half. In the last ten minutes, however, Sudbury scored two further tries, one from an interception when Chelmsford were attacking in the oppositions 22meter area. Half time Sudbury 27 Chelmsford 0
The second half got off to a poor start, Chelmsford conceding two ties in the first ten minutes. For much of the half Chelmsford matched Sudbury in both lineouts and scrums but contributed to tries being scored against them by not carrying out fundamentals, such as not finding touch especially from penalties and not pressing the opposition from kick offs.
Chelmsford did press hard for about a quarter of an hour during the half and Josh Smth plummeted over from close in after sustained pressure As the game progressed Chelmsford became further disorganised and two further tries ensued
Director of Rugby, Eddie Gooby, said of the game: “We need to regroup after the injuries we’ve sustained and work out where our fit players will flourish.“Above all, we need the uninjured players to make themselves available and train as a team. Every individual player on the pitch knows and understands rugby but rugby is not about the individual, it’s about the team and we cannot win without presenting a united front.”

Despite Chelmsford’s difficult season there was a large number of spectators watching who continued to give good vocal support throughout the game
Next week Chelmsford travel to Ipswich K.O. 2.15