Herts/Middlesex 1 07/03/15

Cheshunt narrowly lost an eleven try thriller, when London Welsh scored the winning try with the last play of the match. An enthralling roller coaster game, both sides eager to play entertaining rugby on a wide pitch, in, apart from a stiff down pitch breeze, perfect conditions.
With the breeze on the backs in the first half, Cheshunt were first on the board when Reece Shoobridge converted a penalty in the opening minutes.
London Welsh, determined to keep pressure on the league leaders, knew they needed a bonus point win and turned down penalty opportunities for a chance to run at the line, after 8 minutes, a speculative chip ahead was poorly dealt with by the Cheshunt defence and Welsh were able to spend some time in the Cheshunt 22, they kept hold of the ball until they got over the whitewash, a simple conversion gave them a 7-3 lead.
C’s came straight back, Brad Ewing fielded a kick and fed Johno Wicks, he pushed Welsh back deep into their 22 with a long kick, this time Welsh decided to run out of defence and a loose pass on the 22 was intercepted by Joel Bailey who ran in under the posts, Shoobridge added the extras.
From the re-start the Cheshunt forwards controlled possession, until another long telling kick from Wicks put them back down in the Welsh 22, a poor clearance kick by the home side gave C’s an attacking lineout. Again the pack controlled the ball through several phases until Alex Clark found a gap and strolled over, Shoobridge added the conversion.
With the strong breeze, Cheshunt continued to enjoy territorial advantage, Ewing pinning the home team back with some penetrating kicks. Eventually Welsh got out of their 22, but when they chipped ahead, Wicks was there to collect and sent the ball back down field. They then tried to run out of defence, but skipper Tom Claridge drove the ball carrier back into the 22, and the home side were guilty of not releasing, Shoobridge added another penalty to extend to 7-20 after 30 minutes.
Cheshunt went further ahead following a London Welsh scrum on halfway, disrupted ball was quickly seized on by Ewing, he swapped passes with Clark and had an easy run in from 30 yards out to score in the corner. They just missed out on going further ahead minutes later, after Welsh had spilt the ball close to the Cheshunt line, another long Wicks kick was chased down by Marvin Brown, his pressure led to a poor clearance kick and Jake Phillips collected the loose ball, a high tackle on him gave Shoobridge another pot at goal, but it was just pulled to the left.
Just before the break, Welsh narrowed the gap after the forwards had worked hard to get into C’s 22, ball along the line was nicely finished off near the posts and the gap at the break was 14-25.
For the first fifteen minutes of the second period, C’s kept control of the game, playing a tighter, controlled game, they denied Welsh the ball, knowing with the wind they would soon be back on their own line. A couple of earlier chances went begging, but they extended the lead when Tom Claridge took advantage of the good work from the forwards and carved through a gap 30 metres out, he went in under the posts for another 7 pointer, and with just 25 minutes on the clock C’s were ahead 14-32.
Desperate to remain near the top of the table, London Welsh hit a real purple patch and scored three tries in fifteen minutes to snatch back the lead. The game had become more open and both sets of players were beginning to tire, the home side attacked from every opportunity, backs and forwards combining well, two of the three tries were converted and they led by a single point 33-32.
The see-saw match continued to surprise and after Dave Angell and Clark had driven close to the try line, Bailey was on hand to get over in the corner to notch his brace and put C’s 4 points ahead with just 7 minutes left on the clock. A frantic finale, saw Cheshunt give away several penalties in the 22, although kickable, Welsh neededs a try to win, finally with the last move of the match they forced their way over near the posts and the conversion signalled the final whistle.
A week off next week, before Cheshunt entertain Kilburn Cosmos at Andrews Lane on the 21st March.

Short, Phillips, Hussey, Brown, Willcocks, Clark, Thorn, Bailey, Ewing, Shoobridge, Walker, Claridge, Amani, Cummines, Wicks. Replacements – Roberts, Angell, Valentine.