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Page Last Updated: 08/05/2007
Page Published By: Ivor Smith
Essex
County
RFU
County
Championship
Plate
Essex v Staffordshire
Ten points in the last ten minutes gave
Essex
a more respectable score in their 20-34 defeat by Staffordshire in the RFU County Championship Plate competition.
With three points on the board in as many minutes through a penalty converted by Henry Bond, the many spectators, who had stayed on after the earlier Rochford v Chelmsford Essex Intermediate Cup final expected great things from this new Essex team.
However, it was not to be as the penalty only served to wake up the heavier Staffordshire side.
Despite resolute defence and the occasional break out into the Staffordshire half, it was the Staffs winger Fowles who finally received an excellent ball on the wing and managed to outpace the
Essex
defence to give Staffs a 3 – 5 lead.
T
he conversion by Bartam extended the lead to 3 -7.
The
Essex
defence held out for a further 10 minutes before conceding a kickable penalty converted by Bartram to take the score to 3 -10.
Essex
hopes of a score were raised shortly afterwards when quick recycled ball gave winger Tyson Lewis the opportunity to run down the wing.
A desperate last second tackle saved the day for Staffs as the touch judge indicated that Lewis put the ball down on the in goal touch line, resulting in a Staffs 22.
I
n reply Staffs worked the ball back into the Essex half and from a ruck on the Essex try line lock Kelly forced his way over the line to give Staffs a 3 -15 lead.
The try was converted by Bartam to make the score 3 – 17.
There was no further score before the half time whistle was blown and both teams retreated into the shade for a well earned break from the intense sunshine.
Staffs started the second half on the offensive and kept the pressure on the
Essex
line.
A technical transgression by Goodchild the
Essex
hooker earned himself a yellow card.
Seizing on the advantage Staffs called for a scrum from the resultant penalty giving the Staffs No 8 Morris, a fairly easy pushover try which Bartam failed to convert and taking the score to 3 - 22.
Despite being a man down
Essex
went through a period of sustained play putting Staffs for a change on the back foot.
Excellent rucking and mauling eventually gave Kevin Feheley the opportunity to barge his way over the line to raise
Essex
hopes and make the score 8 – 22.
Fly half Bond duly converted the try for the extra points and taking the score to 10-22.
Essex
hopes were dashed though when from the kick off Staffs won the ball in the maul to give winger Fowles a clear dash to the line.
With the Essex defense hot in pursuit Fowles touched down but in a moment of madeness aggressively pushed an
Essex
player away from the ball for which the referee had no option but to issued a yellow card to the Staff player.
His try stood but was unconverted.
The man down situation only gave Staffs fresh impetus and their heavier pack kept the ball tight and once again put the
Essex
try line under sustained pressure.
A collapsed scrum and an offside incursion under the new laws led to the referee awarding Staffs a penalty try under the posts which was converted by Bartram to give Staffs a 10-34 lead.
The restart,
with ten minutes left to go, put Essex deep into the Staffs 22 and with the
Essex
pack ending the match stronger, the pack started to retain possession and make ground.
Rucking and mauling their way to the Staffs line, it was James English who seized the chance to dive over for a try which was unconverted.
Indiscipline during the phase of play leading up to the try resulted in the Staffs front row sub being given a yellow card.
With the one man advantage
Essex
again took play up to the Staffs 22 where Henry Bond finally broke through the Staffs defence to score a try out wide on the wing which he failed to convert.
Playing three minutes of injury time, did not allow
Essex
any more time to score and the match came to an end in the middle of the pitch with two very tired and hot teams and a well deserved victory to Staffs 22 - 34.
Es
sex Manager Alan Stobbs said “Though we tried to run their heavier pack around the park they were equal to it in the first half and took full advantage of our mistakes.
Our boys did well to restrict the score as much as they did.
That early try in the second half caught us unaware and that also made it very difficult to come back at them, especially as we went a man down.
Their friendly match against the British Police a couple of weeks ago was obviously an important practice for them and we lacked match practice.
We can only get better and next weeks match against
Durham
at Hartlepool Rovers could well bring out the best from this team.
I hope by then we should be able to bring back a couple of lads who were not available this week due to playoffs and that might just give us the edge we are looking for.
Team: Darryl Worster (Thurrock); Tyson Lewis (Southend); Daniel Dieu-De-Bellefontaine (Basildon); Joel Johnston( Southend); Nathan Wiles ( Chingford); Henry Bond Chingford; Nick Williams (Woodford); Gary Smith (Southend); Tryson Goodchild( Eton Manor); Tom Webb( Eton Manor); James Englsh (Southend); John Burnage(Chingford); Marc Chandler(Thurrock); Dean Cadby (Barking); Robert Conner (Woodford);
Subs: Stefan Eleftheriou(Woodford); Nik Grier(Southend); Ben Partridge (Thurrock) Kevin Feheley(Eton Manor) Joe Green(Woodford); Earl Gorman(Thurrock) Simon Webb (Rochford)