Sunday 2 November 2008
Chelmsford 31 - Medway Cougars 26
Tries: Christodoulou 2, Reynolds, Stone
Cons: Gowdy 3
Despite being in the driving seat for much of this game, a twelve minute period where they shipped 17 points without response, was to ultimately cost the Cougars victory in a game they should have won.
Medway started the game with a largely development side led by Captain Alex Morgan and immediately got into their stride piling the pressure on Chelmsford in the opening exchanges with Charlie Wardzynski dummying through the opposition backs and off-loading well when he was eventually taken to ground. Unfortunately the ball was turned over 10 metres short and Chelmsford kicked clear. A penalty soon afterwards was taken quickly by George Simpson and fed down the line for Sam Nicholls to break through only to be stopped again just short of the try line. Medway sustained the pressure until about the 8th minute when the ball found Chelmsford's big No. 8 who forced his way through the Medway defence for their first unconverted try. A couple of minutes later a similar break through took the score to 10-0 and 5 minutes before the end of the period, missed tackles on the No. 8 allowed a third try closing the period at 17-0.
Although Head Coach Mark Marriott rang the changes at the start of the second period with both sides putting out the strongest boys available to them, it seemed that the fates were against Medway as the referee played an advantage when none was coming for the Cougars, spilling the ball to Chelmsford who ran through to score. However and as we've said on many occasions before, Medway this season always fight back. At 24-0 down the team rose magnificently to the challenge with great work by the forwards recycling the ball time and time again from the rucks, spinning it through the backs, with hard determined play from the centres. Even losing Nick Hardinges to injury didn't faze them with Morgan coming back into the fray. Medway made ground slowly, being penalised at almost every break down but their determination paid off after ten minutes with Jake Christodoulou forcing over. The same pattern continued for the rest of the period and another well deserved try came this time in the form of Connor Reynolds using his considerable lower body strength in taking the ball over in the corner. Both tries were converted with excellent precision by Luke Gowdy making the score at the end of the session 24-14
Early in the third session Chelmsford made ground and when Medway were penalised yet again for being off-side as the ball came out of the scrum, a quick penalty from 10 metres caught Medway off guard allowing Chelmsford to extend their lead to 31-14. Not long afterwards though a short clearance kick from Chelmsford was punished as Tom Brown collected and drove through eventually feeding Christodoulou for his second try of the match. The conversion by Gowdy was again successful. Medway continued to push and their efforts were rewarded when Brown broke through again this time releasing Reynolds who was able to sublimely feed Daniel Stone, supporting well at scrum half, who dived over in the corner. Gowdy's widest and longest kick of the day narrowly missed by a matter of inches on the near side as the game entered its final few minutes. Medway continued to pile the pressure on but not surprisingly it ended when they were penalised for an infringement at a ruck inside the Chelmsford 22. A very hard fought game with a tremendous comeback, the game finishing 31-26. Impressive team work, good use of the ball, intelligent controlled rugby. Up the work rate and don't be intimidated by the big guys - remember they find it just as difficult to run as the next man when their legs have been taken out from underneath them.
(Match Report by P. Cornell)
