Chelmsford comprehensively beat a hard working Barking team. Apart from the first ten minutes the Barking team hardly ventured into the Chelmsford half of the pitch for the rest of the game. Chelmsford won the game in the first half playing up the slope against the wind and rain. They played disciplined rugby, kicking sensibly and keeping possession for long periods.
Chelmsford took the lead after twenty minutes when after several attacks by the forwards, the ball was released to Jordan Ayling who fed a timed pass to Tom Alligan who went through on the burst for a converted try. A feature of much of the game was Tom Taylor’s distribution at scrum, hardly a pass went astray and his variation of distribution was excellent. At this stage the Chelmsford scrum was on top, both in the set scrum and lineout. This pressure caused Barking to give away several penalties and from one of these Ayling kicked a three pointer. Chelmsford final try of the half was scored by the ever present Paul Redford, he is Chelmsford’s leading try scorer and he went over following a rolling maul.

Half time 17 – 0.

With the slope and breeze, Chelmsford were now in total control, after ten minutes of the second half, following forward pressure, Marcus Pottinger bulldozed over from ten yards. Harry Thompson who had just come off the replacement bench repeated this action five minutes later to secure the fourth try and the bonus points. Then it was the turn of another replacement, the lively, Anthony Butt who pounced on a loose ball to score. Finally, to join his fellow backrow scorers, Henry Payne, rampaged over for hard earned try.

This win has reinforced Chelmsford’s second place position in the league and kept the pressure on the leaders, Epping and Upper Clapton.

Next week will see the last game of the year, when Chelmsford take on their old rivals Braintree, who they narrowly beat earlier in the season. Coach Kevin Blackmore will certainly want the team to continue their excellent start of this campaign with a win for the last game of the year.