Over forty players and coaching staff travelled the hundred plus miles by bus to play in the furthest away fixture of the season, both the 1st and 2nd teams came away with resounding victories. The 2nd team winning by ten tries to zero, there is certainly a great strength in depth in the Chelmsford ranks at the present time.

The Chelmsford 1st XV are still unbeaten in the league and are third in the division with a game in hand. The conditions at West Norfolk were ideal for running rugby and the Chelmsford backs scored five tries without conceding one.

Chelmsford went into the lead after nine minutes when the backs spread the ball wide a number of occasions, before Ben Bayley produced a deft cross field kick which Jim Allway, under pressure, gathered high over his head before diving over to score an unconverted try. West Norfolk responded almost immediately with a penalty.
Chelmsford acquired two yellow cards during the game and in general picked up too many penalties, a feature the coaching team will wish to look at for future harder and closer games. During the period when they were down to fourteen men, Chelmsford scored their second try when the ball was fed blind to Jack Acorn who evaded several defenders before placing the ball down in the corner which Joel Young made an excellent conversion. At this stage West Norfolk saw their best patch in the game, but some very good defensive work and some shoddy handling by the opposition meant that the score at half time was 12-3.

Immediately after half time Chelmsford scored their third try, when the ball was gathered deep and run wide by the impressive Chelmsford backs before releasing Lloyd Ellis who had several men to beat before diving over for an unconverted try. West Norfolk gained a lot of ball often through penalties, but the Chelmsford defence was always resolute. Chelmsford’s fourth try was the best team try of the game when the ball was moved wide at pace, and when there seemed there was no room left a subtle pass inside allowed Joel Young to sprint in for a try close to the posts which he duly converted. Finally, Jack Acorn scored the fifth try, his second, when he stretched in at the corner in the final minutes. This was a comprehensive victory, with the forwards providing good ball to their talented backs, scrums were generally good, although the lineouts on occasions were inconsistent.

Next week Chelmsford will play Southwold at Coronation Park kick off 3pm.