Chelmsford travelled to East London on Saturday and suffered their first loss of the season to a well organised and more physical team. The game was strewn with penalties, which meant there was little flowing rugby throughout the game. For the first time this season the Chelmsford pack was under pressure in the front row and generally the Chelmsford side lacked the intensity of their opposition during the first half. After ten minutes East London took the lead when their back row stormed through on a rampaging run for a converted try. The home side came close to scoring again on a number of occasions, but in the main the Chelmsford tackling and their ability to turn over the ball kept the opposition at bay. Shortly before half time, however, the pressure did tell and the East London second row plunged over for an unconverted try.

The second half saw the Chelmsford pack in more dominant mood, but the Chelmsford backs found penetrating the home defence difficult. Some of their passing was of a speculative nature and a wild pass when on attack lead to the ball be gathered by the home back line who ran a try in from the half way line. Chelmsford briefly rallied when Paul Redford gathered a charged down kick and set off on a fifty metre run before getting the ball to Jack Acorn for a converted try. This was Chelmsford’s best part of the game but some good tackling by the opposition and some poor handling in crucial positions prevented Chelmsford from closing the gap. East London did reinsert their dominance with a try by their forwards following several penalty decisions and another in the dying minutes after a kick ahead and a difficult bounce. Sandwiched between these tries was probably the try of the game from Chelmsford when an excellent relay of the ball to Jack Acorn saw him go over in the corner for a try.

After the game Chelmsford coach Kevin Blackmore said, ‘We were beaten by a better team on the day, East London played with more intensity than us in the first half, we know we can play better, and we have a number of players who will be looking for places in the 1st XV following injury and unavailability.

Next week at Coronation Park will see a top of the table clash when Chelmsford take on Epping and Upper Clapton kick off 3pm