Chelmsford 55 Old Cooperians 0
(London 2 North East League)

Despite a 3 week lay off for a postponed game and a blank fixture the previous week, Chelmsford continued their momentum with their 6th league win in succession, to comprehensively defeat an Old Cooperian’s side, who could not be faulted for lack of effort, but were ultimately outclassed, with the home side scoring 8 tries and man of the match, Simon Hoult, pulling the strings from fly half, scoring 20 of Chelmsford’s points, with 6 conversions, a penalty and a try.

This win secures Chelmsford’s 2nd place in the table, 1 point behind leaders, Diss, as they were handed a walk over against Braintree, but Chelmsford have 1 game in hand against their nearest rivals. Chelmsford were missing skipper, Paul Redford, who was on honeymoon and Jack Venn came into the side at wing forward, with Chris Hoult moving to No 8.

The visitors chose to play down the slope and with the wind, but Chelmsford dominated proceedings from the off, when after 7 minutes they were awarded a penalty kick for Old Coops being off side in the backs. Simon Hoult duly obliged with the kick to put the home side 3 – 0 ahead. The lead was increased 5 minutes later, when centre, Adam Cunnah scored an excellent try, following good approach work from both Jamie Ash and Jamie Morrish and with the conversion Chelmsford increased their lead to 10 – 0. The visitors were not able to mount any worthwhile attacks, as the home side dominated possession and Chelmsford’s defence for the whole game was outstanding. Not surprisingly Chelmsford scored their 2nd try after 22 minutes, full back Jamie Ash made a good break along the touchline and passed the ball inside to Simon Hoult, he kicked ahead and a mistake by the Old Coops defence saw the ball bounce up into Hoult’s hands and he scored an unopposed try, which he converted to make the score 17 – 0.

Chelmsford scored their 3rd and 4th tries before half time to secure the bonus point, the 3rd try was all about some excellent inter passing between Simon Hoult and Josh Cavey, leading up to Adam Cunnah’s 2nd try on the half hour mark and then 4 minutes later a trademark individual try from Jamie Ash saw him running from inside his own half along the touchline, beating several would be tacklers, to score the game’s best try. With the last try being converted, Chelmsford were in total command and led by 29 – 0 at the interval.

It was really a question as to how many points Chelmsford would score in the 2nd half, with the elements in their favour and with some astute kicking from Simon Hoult, the visitors were continually pegged back in their own half. The conditions didn’t make it easy for both sides, but credit to both teams who kept the ball alive at every opportunity. Chelmsford brought on Tristan Olive and Alex Ellis in the 2nd half in place of Will Ferrier and Nick Crouch, who slightly aggravated a hamstring injury. Chelmsford scored their 5th try after only a few minutes, when No 8, Chris Hoult broke from a scrum to touch down near the posts and with the successful conversion that took them into a 36 – 0 lead. Continued pressure from the home side resulted in 3 further tries, a brace from wing, Jack Acorn and a 2nd try for Chris Hoult, following pressure on the visitor’s line, two of the tries were converted by Simon Hoult to take the final score to 55 – 0. The last 10 minutes of the game were played out in a hailstorm and inevitably the game lost it’s shape slighty, but nevertheless, Chelmsford ran out worthy winners and to nil the opposition was a great testament to their defensive qualities.

Coach Eddie Gooby said after the game that he was worried about this game as the squad had had a three w eek lay off. “Even though training had gone well there's nothing like match fitness. Having said that we played some great running run rugby in testing conditions. This was a good game to comeback to for us and scoring eight tries it was very comfortable but all credit to Old Coops they never let the heads drop. The next few weeks are going to be intense and I know the squad are looking forward to the challenges ahead. Today I felt we had a lot left in the tank and could have stepped up to another level. Starting next week at Holt we need to be focused and at the top of our game .Training and selection is going to be interesting because we have at least six players returning who were missing today and over the next six games we will need everyone.”