London 3 North/West 19 th November 2016

Cheshunt strolled past basement side Staines, with an emphatic ten try haul, evenly split into 5

scores in each half, on the immaculate Staines pitch. Their hosts played their part too, refusing to lie

down and scored a couple of their own, including the last try of the match.

An early chance to get on the board was missed when Louis Mulholland pushed a penalty attempt

wide after Staines had collapsed a scrum 30 metres out, but when Staines put the drop out straight

into touch, C’s attacked from another scrum on the 22, ball was fed along the line to Richard

Valentine, he cut back inside and passed to Alex Brown, who in turn found Marvin Brown in support,

unstoppable from 10 metres out, he smashed through the covering defence and over the line,

Mulholland slotted the conversion.

Determined to play some enterprising rugby, Cheshunt attacked from the re-start, Alex Clark set

Marvin Brown off again, this time he had Gregg Morris and Alec Lawrence on hand to carry play into

the 22, before he got the ball back, this time he was hauled down just short of the line and the home

side cleared.

The hefty Staines pack worked hard to keep inching up the field and after a penalty got up to the

Cheshunt 22 for the first time, but spilt ball in mid-field gave Joel Bailey the chance to counter, he

quickly found Reece Shoobridge and on half way he released Valentine down the left wing, he

swapped passes with Clark, then touched down in the corner.

Clark set up the next attack after a steal at the lineout, Morris’s inside pass to Mulholland should

have got them over the line, but Cheshunt had to settle for a scrum 5 metres out, again the ball was

fed to the backs, fly half Dan Saunders looped around and seared through a gap untouched to be

next on the scoresheet, with Mulholland’s extras C’s were 0-19 up after 22 minutes.

It was the home side who struck next, a rare visit into the Cheshunt danger zone saw them drive

lineout ball close to the line, re-cycled a couple of times, until the scrum half noticed a gap and dived

over, 7-19.

Normal order was soon resumed, Alex Brown charged through midfield on half way, the ball then

eventually found its way to Kaz Topham, he tore down the right wing and set up an attacking lineout

7 metres out, when the ball was given to Bailey, he was next over the whitewash to claim the bonus

point after just 33 minutes.

They were still able to add to their total before the break with a fine individual try, Valentine

initiated the move with his pass to Sam Rule just outside the Cheshunt 22, Rule jinked past the first

defenders then outgassed the covering Staines players for a 70 yard try and after Mulholland’s

conversion, it sent the visitors into the break with a comfortable 7-31 advantage.

The Green and Whites were soon on the board in the second period, another disrupted lineout gave

Connor Pearce the chance to stretch his legs from half way, he handed off a couple of would be

tacklers on his way to the line.

A yellow card for Morris didn’t slow the visitors down and they added the try of the match,

Shoobridge started and finished a move which went the length of the pitch and from right to left and

finished off in the right corner. Just 5 yards from his own try line he saw a mismatch in the Staines

line and evaded the three forwards in front of him, up to half way and the Cheshunt support was on

hand to get deep into the 22, Rule, Clark, Bailey, Valentine and Topham all involved until the ball was

back with Shoobridge who outsprinted the last defender and dived over.

To their credit Staines didn’t let their heads drop; they enjoyed a period of sustained pressure on the

Cheshunt line, but were unable to break down an organised defence. Another sweeping move got

the visitors back into the Staines half and after a couple of chances to go wide were wasted,

everyone keen to get on the scoresheet and smash through the middle, the ball eventually found

Morris in some space, fresh from his ten minute rest, he soon found his way to the line.

Cheshunt emptied the bench, centurion Jake Phillips was replaced by Ollie Martines in the front row

and Frankie Hall and Charlie Porter entered the fray and all played their part.

Skipper Tom Claridge, enjoying his first game back from injury, powered his way through the centre,

his neat off load was collected by Bailey to notch his brace and then C’s were up to double figures

after another long Pearce run was finally off loaded to Topham, who crossed to put C’s up to 60.

Staines had the last word with a try with the last play, but it didn’t dampen the celebrations and

Cheshunt will look forward to welcoming Kilburn to Andrews Lane next Saturday.