Campion 19 Chelmsford 10
(London 2 North East League)

Chelmsford lost their 100% league record last weekend when they were deservedly beaten by newly promoted Campion and as a result of this defeat they drop to 2nd place in the table behind Norwich. To compound matters in the final minute of the match, the referee penalised the home side for slowing the game down on their own line, a penalty was awarded to Chelmsford, frustration crept in on the part of visitors and then a fracas ensued and punches were thrown. Three players were sent off, prop Phil Dechamp and flanker Josh Cavey from Chelmsford, plus Campion’s blindside flanker.

Coach, Eddie Gooby said afterwards that “this was a disappointing way to lose our unbeaten record. The team was flat in energy and our basics let us down, also two schoolboy errors cost us the game. In tight games the team that does the basics properly and keeps its discipline normally comes out on top and Campion deserved to the win. Too many of our players carried the ball in one hand and on too many occasions in attacking situations we lost the ball or took the ball into contact when a simple pass would have seen us score.

What happened at the end when we were attacking and had been awarded a penalty in order to give us the chance of a losing bonus point was stupid, and will cost us dearly with an already stretched squad. Unfortunately we let ourselves down today. It’s harsh to say this after winning our first four games but the players need to reflect and take a hard look at themselves and come back stronger next week against a Saffron Warden team who have found some form over the past few weeks. “

The first half was not particularly noteworthy as both sides fell foul of the referee on a number of occasions. Chelmsford had the chance to take the lead, but fly half Simon Hoult failed narrowly from 33 metres out after they were awarded a penalty for Campion coming into the side of a ruck. The last 20 minutes of the half was all Campion’s as they began to put some good phases together and run the ball out wide, but some tremendous defensive work on Chelmsford’s part kept them at bay, The continued pressure finally told and Campion put their first points on the board when Chelmsford ran out of numbers out wide to the right and an unconverted try was scored by their open side flanker taking them into a 5 – 0 lead. Hoult then another chance to kick a penalty from a similar distance, but once again the kick narrowly failed.

Several minutes from time Chelmsford finally put some pressure on the Campion line and following a good break by hooker Seth Robinson, flanker, Josh Cavey was in support to take the pass, but a high tackle prevented him from touching down for a certain try, and the referee had no hesitation in awarding a penalty try underneath the posts and with Hoult converting, Chelmsford went into the break with a 7 – 5 lead.

For the first 10 minutes of the second half Chelmsford upped the tempo of the game and were rewarded with a further penalty from Hoult when Campion were penalised for holding on and the score was now 10 – 5 to Chelmsford. Once again they could not sustain the pressure and Campion gradually fought their way back into the game with two tries, the first was an error on the part of Chelmsford’s, when a loose clearance kick failed to make touch, the ball was caught by Campion, the chaser failed to tackle the man in possession, and with no other cover defence, they had a straight run into the corner and with the try being converted took a 12 – 10 lead. Then 15 minutes from time a drop out from Chelmsford’s 22 was fielded by the home side and a neat inside pass to their no.8 caught Chelmsford napping and another straight run to the line resulted in another converted try to increase the home side’s lead to 19 – 10.

Chelmsford finally woke up and put together some good passing movements, but a succession of wrong options or the final pass not going to hand meant they were unable to take anything away with them from the game. Next week sees Chelmsford play Saffron Walden, which will again prove to be a tough contest. Kick off is at 3pm at Coronation Park.