Chelmsford took on local rivals Thurrock in a highly entertaining game, which saw the visitors come away with a deserved victory by 5 tries to 3. Chelmsford were once again missing some key players, notably 2nd row Nick Sany, through illness and both flankers, Chris Hoult and Josh Cavey, which proved crucial as Thurrock proved to be a much stronger unit in that area. They also looked like a side who will be challenging for honours by the end of the season. Physically they were a strong side, with quality in both their forwards and backs, and they showed a willingness to run the ball from deep in their own half. Notwithstanding this, Chelmsford can be proud of their efforts, especially in the 2nd half when they dug deep and kept their heads up and restricted Thurrock’s scoring to a single penalty and a converted try. Indeed they scored three excellent tries themselves, to show that they also have pace and skill to trouble the best of teams.

The early pressure came from the visitors whose speedy backs looked dangerous with the ball in hand. After 8 minutes they were 12 points to nil up, thanks to two well worked tries and a conversion, both from catch and drives following line outs, after the home side had given away two penalties in quick succession. This was a wake up call for Chelmsford and after 12 minutes, fly half Simon Hoult reduced the arrears to 9 points when he converted a penalty from 25 metres. Just a few minutes later Chelmsford were back in the game, when Simon Hoult made a break on the right hand side of the field, passing the ball to centre Jamie Morrish, and with full back, Jamie Ash in support, he managed to outpace the Thurrock cover defence for a well taken try, which was converted by Simon Hoult to trail the visitors by just 12 - 10.

After 25 minutes Chelmsford were awarded a scrum, but they lost possession, Thurrock picked up the loose ball, and with some excellent inter-passing between the Thurrock side they scored a great try, which was subsequently converted, to increase their lead to 19 – 10. Five minutes later, Chelmsford found themselves napping and with Thurrock keeping the ball alive well, they scored their 4th try on the half hour mark and with the conversion this took them into a match winning lead of 26 – 10.

Minutes later things could have got even worse for Chelmsford, when the visitors had the line at their mercy, only to be called back by the referee for a forward pass. Chelmsford had a good spell just before half time, when the visitors gave away a series of penalties, then just before the break, Simon Hoult made another break and with Jamie Ash in support, he fed the ball out to wing Will Ferrier who sped down the wing to score a well taken try, making the score line, 26 – 15 to Thurrock at half time. Chelmsford were now hampered by injuries to both Dave Hyett (arm) and Jamie Ash (foot) which resulted in some reshaping of the side.

Thurrock now had the slope in their favour and used this to their advantage in the 2nd half with some excellent kicking from their full back, who kept Chelmsford penned in their own half. To their credit Chelmsford managed to hold out for some 25 minutes, before pressure ultimately told near to their line, and with Simon Hoult deemed to have deliberately knocked the ball on by the referee, Thurrock were awarded a penalty to increase their lead to 29 – 15. Hoult was subsequently yellow carded for this offence. Some 5 minutes later a high kick from the Thurrock full back bounced awkwardly in the Chelmsford 22 area, and a rather fortuitous bounce saw the visitors pick the ball up and score their 5th and final try. With the try being converted they now led by 36 – 15. However, not to be outdone, in the last 2 minutes of the game, Chelmsford scored their 3rd try, which was another excellent effort through centre Jamie Morrish, after good work from both Simon Hoult and wing Will Ferrier to bring the game to an end, with Thurrock running out deserved winners by 36 – 20.

Coach, Eddie Gooby was full of praise for his squad, even after their defeat, he said” The honest assessment was that Thurrock were the better team, however, we showed them too much respect early on. Being 12 nil down after only eight minutes against a very good team who will be challenging this season is always a hard ask. So taking the first 10 minutes away we were competitive and we did cause them problems with the ball in hand, we also defended well and competed at the break down.
So losing 36-20 against Thurrock we can take a lot of positives out of the game and continue our upward learning curve. If we got hammered and scored no points I would be a worried man, but I believe we will learn the lessons and get stronger. We have another new challenge next week at CS Rugby 1863, one which the coaches and players alike are looking forward to.”
The kick off time is at 2pm