Match Reports

Chipstead kicked off S&E knock on because it was kicked and chased by Joe P. Scrum 5 huge push by Chips great feed by Tom to Joe P - try and conversion by Joe P! 7-0.

The boys then seemed to play with confidence, power and intelligence. Huge power in the scrum destroyed S&E`s scrum. Our line outs however were a bit hit and miss being penalised 3/4 times for crooked throw ins even though we were far better than S&E in that department.

Fantastic break after fantastic break by Chris N and Ross made a focus for the forwards which only a few knock ons undermined some great play but frightened the opposition. Another great break from Joe P with a massive push from Chris N and Ross enabled David Edwards to get the ball and drive over with 3 players hanging off him - try time, conversion missed! 12-0.

Long raking kicks by Joe P and Callum caused mayhem with their backs and pinned S&E in their half - they never managed to get into our half for the whole of the first half in a brilliantly intelligent and aggressive first 25mins. A number of the kicks were inches away from tries but maybe we should have kept it in hand as their backs outside the 9, 10, 12 looked shaky every time we attacked.

More aggressive rucks and breaks by Zak and Alfie smashed the opposition using their power and size to good effect which eventually lead to a penalty in the opposition 22. It is the last kick of the half but it is difficult and it just slid past the post. We should have made more of the domination but 12 - 0 was a good solid start.

The second half was the "training" Chipstead, S&E came out with vigour and caused all sorts of problems as apart from 1 or 2 of the pack we sat off and waited for the ball so they could attack, however as S&E had stepped up and Chips went to sleep we started loosing the rucks or got very slow ball and all momentum was lost. The backs were put under pressure having to chip or grubber to get past the opposition rather than making overlaps which enabled S&E to mount a number of attacks, all of which were repelled or try saving tackles were made by Ewan and James M on a number of occasions. The scrum were huge in defence in their 22 and absolutely refused to let in any tries.

Eventually Ewan H started coming into his own with big tackles and a few breaks the ball then flew out to the Keiran who chipped over the defence but was tripped on the way to the try line then tackled without the ball. The ref called a penalty that Chris N picked up and went over the line for a try, missed conversion. 17-0.

KO from S&E to Ewan who made a direct break into the opposition half and with the ball passing quickly down the line to Callum who was driven over the line but was deemed to be held up. Scrum 5 hugely dominated by Chips lead to Euan picking up at the base of the scrum and drove over for a try, conversion missed (come on Joe sort it out!!). 22-0.

S&E never gave up and with some good players in the team they made life very difficult for Chips but we allowed them to look good, we need to be more ruthless and we will be a match for any team.

Improvement needed - rucks: need to ruck over and clear out the opposition do not let them hang around and spoil. S/H: more communication please.

Improvements made - direct running from the backs, intelligent kicking out of hand, solid tackling esp by the wings and full back.

Final score 22 - 0.

Many thanks to Andy Bell for an excellent refereeing performance standing in at the last minute and David Ray and the rest for really child friendly food (I liked it anyway).