Chelmsford 32 Basildon 8
(London League 2 North East)

After the previous week’s drubbing at Diss, Chelmsford responded by beating local rivals Basildon by 4 tries to 1 and in doing so recorded a crucial bonus point, which took them back to the top of the table following surprise defeats to Rochford, Norwich and Diss.

Whilst the game lacked any real spark and conviction, the home sound grinded out a win in muddy conditions over a limited Basildon side, who’s game plan from the outset was to disrupt the home side and slow the game down and as a result of this they were heavily penalised by the referee at the breakdown area, and maul, particularly in the first half.

Basildon played down the slope in the first half and some good play through the phases allowed them to score an unconverted try in the left hand corner to take them into a 5 – 0 lead. Gradually Chelmsford came back into the game and two well taken penalties from around 35 metres by fly half, Simon Hoult, in the space of 3minutes, saw Chelmsford regain the lead by 6 – 5.

Both sides were guilty of misdirected passes and poor handling, and coupled with a penalty count of 12 – 2 in the first half in Chelmsford’s favour, this meant that the game was a stop start affair. Following two consecutive penalties against Basildon for coming round the wrong side of the ruck and collapsing the maul, Basildon’s replacement prop was yellow carded. It was not until 35 minutes into the first half that Chelmsford scored their first try when from a driving maul, back row forward Chris Hoult managed to dive over the line for a well taken try, and with the successful conversion from his brother, Chelmsford extended their lead to 13 – 5. On the stroke of half time, Simon Hoult had a chance to increase the lead from a penalty kick, but he was just wide.

The second half was just a minute old when Simon Hoult put a kick high up in the air, unfortunately for the visitors, the ball bounced badly for them, resulting in the ball being hacked on and centre, Harry Simpson won the chase to the line for an unconverted try. It was now Chelmsford’s turn to be on the wrong side of the referee and 7 penalties in succession meant that they couldn’t get the ball in their hands to put any pressure on their opponents. Tight head prop, Miles Pitcher was now yellow carded by the referee and from the resultant penalty kick Basildon reduced the arrears to 18 – 8.

The last 15 minutes of the second half saw Chelmsford put pressure on Basildon’s scrum and it came as no surprise when following a series of penalties, the referee awarded Chelmsford a penalty try for Basildon being off side and kicking the ball away whilst still in the scrum. A successful conversion from Simon Hoult saw their lead increased to 25 – 8 and with one minute to go on the clock, Chelmsford got their precious bonus point when Simon Hoult made a telling break and passed to centre, Jamie Morrish, who in turn got the ball away to full back Jamie Ash, for him to score in the corner and with Hoult converting from the touchline this meant that Chelmsford ran out deserved winners by 32 – 8.

Director of Coaching, Eddie Gooby said after the game: “The players deserved the win today as we stayed true to our beliefs against a team who set out to try and stifle the game and set out a solid defensive system. At times it was difficult to understand what was going on during the first half, with an alarming penalty count in our favour and against us in the 2nd half, but our bonus point try was a top class team effort. We spoke about bouncing back this week and we did just that to show what a great team spirit we have in the camp, plus confidence in our own ability. It just shows how competitive this league is, the previous week we lost and dropped to fourth in the table, and this weekend we win and go back to the top of the league. With all the problems with player availability, so far this season we have used 40 players, and it’s amazing how well this squad has done.

We have another tough game this coming weekend against South Woodham Ferrers and we will have another changed team. In the new year if we can get a settled team we could enjoy a successful 2nd half of the season. If we are honest with ourselves we have punched above our weight with all the injuries and unavailabilities.”