Woodford U17's v Cheshunt U17's

The torrential rain of the week leading up to this fixture had given way to a dry morning but with a fairly strong wind blowing end to end, which Cheshunt certainly used to their full advantage in the first half.

From the outset the green & whites dominated and the ball hardly left the Woodford half. Cheshunt were quicker to the breakdown and stronger and more decisive and before long scrum half Danny (The Jester) Cansick picked the ball from the back of a ruck, found Tom (Coops) Cooper who in turn managed to draw his defender before popping the ball to Jack (Jack Jack) Berry who stormed into the corner to score.

The pressure continued and shortly after Coops was this time able to ‘pick and go’ from a successful ruck and with superb support from Scott (Mr Dynamite) Glynn the two battled across the line with Coops making the score.

A third try was soon to come as ‘Big Rob’ Fairburn and Sean (the Crimson Chin) Chinn kept Woodford pinned in their own half and this time it was ‘Jack Jack’ who popped up again to pick and go, this time scoring in the opposite corner.

The fourth came from a well worked scrum awarded mid way into Woodford’s half; Sonny (The Don) Borzellino and Josh (Chesty) Chesterman worked tirelessly and scrum half ‘The Jester’ found his fly half ‘Mr Dynamite’ who in turn picked out his inside centre Scott (Tank) Drew who had taken a superb line coming from deep and at speed; ‘the tank’ was unstoppable!

Cheshunt had however been unsuccessful with their kicking and Adam (Chess) Chessis stepped up for this one, and successfully made the two points.

Moving towards half time Alex (Doner) Christou had replaced the injured Brad (The Back) Hogan and was seen making a series of piercing runs the like of which we haven’t seen before – well done Alex. As the pressure was sustained ‘Coops was able to pick up a pass on the 22 and ran the defence for a fifth try, which ‘Chess’ also converted. Half time a comfortable 29-0 up.

The second half was more difficult with the wind against although tackling was excellent in the backs and Cheshunt still managed two further scores to Woodford’s one, first that man ‘Coops’ again, and the final one a dummy pass from The Jester giving him the gap to then side step the full back and score under the posts on the final whistle.

Woodford simply couldn’t hold Cheshunt in any quarter and all played their part with notable performances from Tom (Coops) Cooper and Alex (Doner) Christou with some great second half running and tackling from Connor (The Groin) Latour and Alex (Little Toe) Wistow respectively.

Gary Cansick.