Braintree 14 Chelmsford 63
(London Two North East League)

Director of Rugby, Eddie Gooby was a delighted man after his side had demolished near neighbours, Braintree, in a very one sided local derby by 63 points to 14, with Chelmsford scoring 9 tries, 6 conversions and two penalties to give fly half Simon Hoult a personal tally of 28 points. As a result of this huge win, Chelmsford are joint leaders with Norwich, both sides having won their opening three league games, but Chelmsford have a better points difference.

Chelmsford had too much pace all round for a disappointing Braintree side, who had very little to offer in both attack and forward play. The link up between Chelmsford’s forwards and backs was a joy to watch and flanker Josh Cavey in particular had a storming game and featured prominently in many attacking moves.

Gooby said after the game “I am very pleased for the players today who put in a great team effort to show all our supporters what a competitive squad we have and a great team spirit. We played the game at a terrific pace today and Braintree were no match for us on the day. We still have at least 5 players to come back from injuries and non availabilities to add to the squad’s strength in depth and this will keep everyone on their toes. We proved today that we can play an expansive game of rugby and on this form we are a match for any side in this division. Obviously the test will come when we start to play on the softer surfaces, but until then, we will continue to play to our strengths.”

Chelmsford opened the scoring with two early penalties from fly half, Simon Hoult, to take a 6 – 0 lead. The same player then intercepted a pass and full back Jamie Morrish fed the ball to left wing, Jamie Ash who scored a try in the corner and with Hoult converting the score was now 13 – 0 to the visitors. Braintree then opened their scoring when Chelmsford lost possession at the base of a scrum and some slack tackling in the centre of the park allowed them to score a converted try between the posts to reduce the deficit to 13 – 7. Five minutes later Chelmsford scored again following a loose clearance kick from the home side, Jamie Ash broke through the defence to give flanker, Josh Cavey a run in to the left hand corner for an unconverted try.

Two minutes later, Chelmsford had the ball over the line again, but the referee deemed a double movement. Moments later, however, Chelmsford scored again when they failed to gain possession at a line out near to the Braintree line, but the home side decided to run the ball and were caught in possession, and prop Dean Lester pounced on the loose ball to score a try. Chelmsford were now well in control at 23 – 7 and a further unconverted try was scored before half time, when prop Stephen Priest went over to take Chelmsford into a 28 – 7 half time lead.

Chelmsford continued to attack and within a minute of the second half flanker Josh Cavey scored a great individual try, duly converted by Hoult to extend the lead to 35 – 7. Braintree then spent a short period of time inside Chelmsford’s 22 metre area as the visitors gave away a series of penalties, but Braintree were then penalised themselves and the momentum swung back to Chelmsford when a great break from Josh Cavey resulted in the ball being recycled and fed down the back line for Simon Hoult to score a try, which he converted to take the score to 42 – 7.

With 19 minutes to go on the clock, one of the Braintree props limped off and with no replacement, the referee awarded uncontested scrums. Chelmsford then showed how much pace they had in the backs when Jamie Ash put Jamie Morrish away for a great try in the left hand corner, superbly converted by Simon Hoult to extend the lead to 49 - 7. Braintree then scored a well taken try in the corner which was converted to reduce the arrears to 42 – 14, but two further tries from No.8 Simon Quinn, following a driving maul and a second try from Simon Hoult, both converted by him sealed an emphatic win for Chelmsford.

This coming weekend sees Chelmsford travel to London North West 2 side, Harrow, in the London & South East Intermediate Cup.