Chelmsford 5 v South Woodham Ferrers 10
(London Two North East League)

South Woodham Ferrers won the bragging rights in this local derby, with a workmanlike display against a hugely disappointing and lack lustre Chelmsford side. There was a lack of firepower and hunger from the home side and despite a huge penalty count of 26 – 7 in their favour, Chelmsford failed to capitalise on this with a lack of tactical awareness and leadership, and this loss has effectively ended any realistic hopes that they had of promotion for this season.

Whilst Woodham played to their strengths, which is in their forward play, with some good driving rugby, they dominated play in the breakdown area and Chelmsford found it hard to put any composure and fluency into their play. They were hampered by injuries and the unavailability of several key players, but even allowing for this fact, the visitors were more up for the game than the hosts, and it is easy to understand why Woodham have shocked several sides this season by their brand of rugby. Woodham were perhaps fortunate that whilst they had 3 men sent to the sin bin for constantly killing the ball, the referee could have possibly taken stronger action, but that was not to be. The fact that Chelmsford failed to take numerical advantage of this was a worrying sign for the coaching team and the home supporters.

Once against Chelmsford let themselves down from the kick off, when the ball was immediately knocked on, and the impetus went straight away to Woodham and within 4 minutes of play, Woodham scored their first try when Chelmsford lost the ball near to their line and the visitors went into an early lead of 5 – 0. Minutes later Chelmsford suffered a blow when scrum half, Luke Venn, had to leave the field, following a heavy knock in attempting a tackle. His absence was a crucial blow to Chelmsford, as they lost any impetus they had around the base of the scrum, and for the remainder of the game any ball they did have was slow, and the backs had little opportunity to put any pace on the ball.

Woodham had the wind and slope in the first half and effectively looked the sharper side, and it was no surprise when the visitor’s scored their second try, when the ball was ripped out of Chelmsford’s hands and prop, Dave Langley, went over for another unconverted try, to take Woodham into a 10 – 0 lead. It was not until the last 10 minutes of the half when Chelmsford suddenly came alive, and a series of penalties in their favour, saw them effectively camp on the Woodham line. Finally on the stroke of half time, second row forward, Nick Crouch, managed to crash over for an unconverted try to reduce the arrears to 10 – 5.

With such a slender lead and the wind and slope in their favour, it was hoped that Chelmsford would take the game to their opponents, but despite the huge penalty count, they failed to capitalise on this and however hard they tried, they could not break down the Woodham defence, which for the majority of the game stood firm. This was a very frustrating and disappointing afternoon for Chelmsford and this defeat sees them drop into 4th place in the table.

Eddie Gooby, Chelmsford’s coach said after the game that “this was not the way we wanted to finish the year, but the squad can look back on 2013 with great pride, and we have played some fantastic rugby, breaking all club records and currently standing fourth in the table. Can we get better, yes, and it will not be for the lack of effort on the squad’s behalf. We know we have to find that consistency in our form, and in selection at the moment we have been making too many changes each week. If we are serious about pushing this season to its limits, then players need to organise themselves and be able to train and play. Today the boys gave everything but we just did not get the bounce of the ball or have that little bit extra to break down a very solid South Woodham defence, even when they went down to thirteen men we did not have the accuracy needed to win this game. Woodham played to their strengths, but we didn’t make use of the spaces out wide. Credit to Woodham, today was their day and they deserved the win.”

With the festive break now looming, Chelmsford return to action in the new year, with a difficult away game to Rochford on 4th January, kick off is at 2.15pm