Enfield 8 Chelmsford 25
(London 2 North East league)

Chelmsford recorded their 8th win out of 9 matches to go top of the table, after this comprehensive win against an out of sorts Enfield side, who struggled to come to terms with the pace of the game, as compared to Chelmsford, who for the majority of the game dictated proceedings. The foundations of this victory were once again laid by the forwards who outplayed their much heavier opponents to dominate the set piece scrums and also boss the breakdown area and put themselves on the front foot. This win was all the more satisfying for coach, Eddie Gooby, as he was missing 8 front line players from his squad, and for 24 minutes of the match they played with 14 men, after the referee brandished 3 yellow cards.

He said: “This was the most pleasing performance of the season for me. Playing at Enfield at anytime of the season is hard and having to make so many changes did not help our cause. The players who joined the squad today showed to myself and the coaches that they have learnt the lessons from the earlier season games and have matured at this level in terms of the physicality side of the game. The scrum today was outstanding and gave us a platform to play off and we controlled a lot of the game even whilst we were down to 14 men, which is something we will talk about during the week. 25-8 was a fair reflection of the game, as we knew Enfield would be tough and they did not disappoint us in that respect, but our defence was awesome today under severe pressure at times”

Chelmsford started the game well with fly half Simon Hoult kicking two early penalties, the 2nd one from just inside the Enfield half, after their loose head prop stood up in the scrum and then the 2nd one for coming into the side of a ruck. A 6 – 0 lead was then quickly turned into a 13 – 0 lead when from a scrum the ball came out to Simon Hoult, he fed centre Harry Simpson, who then drew his man for fellow centre, Jamie Morrish, to go over underneath the posts for a converted try. Chelmsford were now playing some good rugby and managed to keep the hosts penned back in their own half.

It was not until the 28th minute that Enfield opened their scoring when fly half Jordan Wilson slotted home a penalty kick after Chelmsford were penalised for hands in the ruck. Several minutes later the same kicker had another chance to reduce the deficit, when Chelmsford were caught off side, but this time he was wide of the posts. It was late in the half before the home side began to pressurise the Chelmsford line and when they looked threatening, wing Will Ferrier was deemed to have deliberately knocked the ball on to prevent a try scoring opportunity and he received the first yellow card. During this time, however, their defence stood firm and just before the stroke of half time, full back Rhys Whitelock put a kick down the right hand side of the field, which caught the home side napping and following this up, he won the chase to the line, to score a well taken try and increase Chelmsford’s lead to 18 – 3.

The second half saw Phil Dechamp take the place of Ben Franklin at loose head prop and Chelmsford increased their lead after 10 minutes when the home side knocked the ball on, and with the referee playing advantage the ball was somehow hacked on by Chelmsford and centre Jamie Morrish found himself in the clear to slide over the line and touch the ball down for a try by the posts for his 2nd of the game, which was duly converted by Simon Hoult to take them into a match winning lead of 25 – 3. The hosts did put together some good phases of play, but not for the full 80 minutes, and once again some excellent defence by Chelmsford and some indecision and wrong options caused the home side’s downfall.

Enfield did eventually get over the Chelmsford line, but the referee deemed that the ball was held up and then when the home side did pressurise the Chelmsford line, they were awarded 2 consecutive scrums inside the Chelmsford 22, but from these the Chelmsford pack took 2 strikes against the head, pushing Enfield’s pack backwards and the home side were penalised on each occasion for standing up in the scrum. This was a huge psychological blow for the home side from which they didn’t recover. Chelmsford were then awarded a succession of penalties, but 15 minutes from time, 2nd row Nick Crouch was yellow carded for what the referee saw to be another deliberate knock on and they were down to 14 men again. This time Enfield took advantage of this when Chelmsford were caught short of numbers wide out on the left hand side, and wing Ed Barker went over for an unconverted try to reduce the deficit to 25 – 8. Eddie Gooby then brought on Sid Wright and Miles Regan for the last 5 minutes and despite Jack Acorn receiving their 3rd yellow card for holding on, the visitors managed to survive any further scares to run out deserved winners by 25 – 8.

Chelmsford have a week’s rest before they play what will undoubtedly be their toughest encounter to date, away to Diss, which will no doubt prove to be a tough forward battle.