Saturday saw Chelmsford’s first team travel to Sudbury to face them for the second time this season. Despite an undeniable improvement from Chelmsford in 2018, Sudbury proved too strong a side, writes Annie Coulson.
Chelmsford seemed to return to their earlier form as the forward pack dominated but seemed to make no real headway and Sudbury made excellent use of their back line, offloading the ball to a fast supporting teammate.
Cameron Arnott hit back for Chelmsford with a well taken penalty but unfortunately the second half saw Chelmsford on the back foot as Sudbury came out swinging and scored an excellent try.
Chelmsford seemed to scramble then, growing increasingly desperate to regain their recent success and to surpass their local rivals.
Unfortunately, this approach was messy and saw Chelmsford give away three tries in quick succession and the final score was 38-3.
The Bluebirds didn’t have a much better outing on Sunday as they travelled to face Southwold, who turned out to be a vastly improved team than the one who played Chelmsford in September.
The game was a passionate one with tensions running high and both teams with something to prove. Southwold’s forward pack were stronger than the Bluebirds but lacked fitness and the scrums and lineouts proved to be fairly even.
The first half saw the Bluebirds miss several tackles and not commit to those that they did make and Southwold put several points on the board in the first 20 minutes. Chelmsford then rallied, shored up their defences and tidied up their game, giving away fewer penalties and committing to the tackles.
They kept Southwold at bay for the rest of the half, conceding only one try and conceded only two tries throughout the second half. Unfortunately, several turned over balls meant that Chelmsford were unable to keep up an attacking momentum and only one try was scored, by Tosh. The score at full time was 44-5.
Fortunately, the veteran Undertakers were on form, as ever and brought home a convincing 53-38 win against Thurrock.
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