London North 2 Chelmsford 42 Ipswich 7 The morning of game day had club members up early, walking the pitch to determine whether or not the game would go ahead but, ever dedicated, players and members cleared the snow away from the lines and the game went on.
It was the last Chelmsford game for front rower, Stephen Prest, and the whole team was determined to give him a memorable send off.
Throughout the game, the Chelmsford forward pack dominated and, in particular, they used their strong scrum to great effect, driving Ipswich back from the five-metre line for Will Cooper to score an early try.
Within 20 minutes, the Chelmsford backs had their first try of the day, Zain Mainan plummeting over the line after an excellent break by Will Ferrier.
Ipswich bit back with a hard fought try and the score at half time was 14-7. The second half saw Chelmsford come back hard, as they played up the hill and in blustering winds. Mainan and Cameron Arnott made good ground with searching kicks, which allowed Chelmsford to spend huge chunks of the game in the Ipswich half.
Chelmsford’s third try was scored by Ross Toomey, after Marcus Pottinger made an excellent break from the base of the scrum. Hot on the heels of that try scrum half, Tom Day, caught a knock down from a line-out and outran the opposition for 60 metres to score.
In the last 15 minutes, there seemed to be no question that Ipswich would come back and Chelmsford just kept putting points on the board.
Nick Sany scored a try from a rolling maul and Jack Acorn chased a kick to score the sixth Chelmsford try. All six tries were converted by Mainan and Arnott. This bonus point win further demonstrated Chelmsford’s continued improvement and keeps them out of the relegation zone.
Romford & Gidea Park RFC will visit Chelmsford at Coronation Park this Saturday at 3pm.
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