Sunday 11th October 2009

Eastern Counties 31 - 10 Essex 

Essex began the match with a well worked try after four minutes by centre Albert Portsmouth.  Good early pressure insid eth eand a break by Counties 22 saw stand off Owen Thomas create a break in the Counties defence, for Partsmouth to gather a short pass and dive over the line for the first score.  Counties responded well and soon the dominacen of their bigger pack put the Essex forwards ont eh defensive.  Enthusiatic tackling kept Counties at bay and it took Counties at least 10 mintues to eventually maul their way over the line for th efirst converted try.  Five minutes later Counties were awarded a scrum five meters out from the Essex line and in a well co ntrolled scrum the Counties No 8 Calum Cashman gathered up the ball fromt he base of the scrum and barged his way over the Counties second converted try giving Counties a 14 - 5 lead.  Dispite forays into the Counties half, Counties used the follwoing wind to push Essex back into their own 22.  On the stoke of half hour, Counties were awarded a lineout just five meters out and from  resultant catch and drive scored their third converted try of the first half making the score 19 -5.  And so it stayed until the half time whistle.

The second half began well for Essex with a following wind and the kick off Essex camped in the Counties half.  The pressure told and with some vigourous rucking and mauling Regan Phillips crossed the line the give Essex the first try of the second half.  Though the conversion was wide of the posts, the score gave Essex some hope of more to come.  The game however lost a bit of its contiuity with the referee penalising Essex for a number of transgressions in the rucks and both sides having a fair share of possession and territory.  The next score came from the Counties halfway through the second half when right wing Ollie Gill scraped over in the right hand corner to take the score to 26 -10.  With five minutes left to go Counties used the strength of the pack to create a controlled driving maul to go over the Essex line to make the score 31-10.  There was no further score before the ereferee Alexis Manley from London Society blew the final whistle.

The score probably did not do justice to some excellent moments thoughout the game when Essex looked dangerous with ball in hand, especailly amonsgst the backs.  Though the pack may have lacked a bit of weight and height, it was their defensive work that gave hope for the future especcially if they can apply that spirit to attack.

Head Coach Simon Hoult said after the match " The boys worked hard and on the whole that was a good performacne.  We had our chances and the backs always looked dangerous with ball in hand.  The Eastern Counties forwards deprived us of some good possession, and they scored three of their tries from rucks and mauls.  This is something we will have to work on for our next match in a couple of weeks time against Hertfordshire."  

Essex U18’s v Eastern Counties @ Colchester RFC 11/10/2009 Kick Off 2.30pm