Shelford v Cheshunt

To put this game in perspective, Shelford at this age-group are by any standard a quality side who generally dominate the Eastern Counties division. They are former Cup finalists, regional champions and unbeaten this season having out-scored their opponents 10-1; this was a real test.

With conditions heavy underfoot and a strong wind blowing, Cheshunt elected to play with the wind but was soon put under-pressure. Although tackling was effective, Cheshunt was just not reacting quickly enough to line-breaks or the breakdown, and kept ‘gifting’ the advantage back to Shelford.

As a result Shelford was able to gain good field-position and release their back-line to great effect, with the outside centre proving particularly troublesome. At half-time Cheshunt had conceded three scores, all out wide, and were 15-7 down having grabbed a mid-half score of their own through winger, Connor (the Groin) Latour, converted by Scott (Mr Dynamite) Glynn.

It was a frustrating half because for large parts of the game Cheshunt looked the more promising side and the boys knew they had not made the most of the conditions. It took a stern talking to from Captain and Prop, Tom (Coop’s) Cooper who wanted greater emphasis in the second-half on work rate at the breakdown and reacting quicker in open play - and boy didn’t it work!

Cheshunt was a side playing with belief in the second-half and, despite losing several players to injury, was able to get back into the game early on. That score came from Coop’s following a nice off-load interchange between locks, Big Rob Fairburn and Sean (the Crimson Chin) Chinn, and back-row, Mike (Beef) Henderson, before Tom crashed over from short-range.

Cheshunt’s next came from a neat little kick through from outside centre, Mr Dynamite, who had spotted space behind the Shelford defensive line. That kick was picked up by Full-Back, Tom (Tap Tap) Timetheou, who scored the try which was then converted by scrum-half, Louis (Dutch) Mulholland. Despite a valiant defensive effort the penalty-count was creeping up and worryingly valuable field position was being lost. Shelford was able to exploit this and increased the lead with a converted score.

With less than five minutes on the clock and 22-19 down, the winning Cheshunt try was also the pick of the scores and it came from a deep defensive kick by Shelford following a turnover of possession outside the Shelford 22m area. Tap Tap caught the ball and broke open, beating the chasing defender before passing to Mr Dynamite on a hard return-line. That line opened up the Shelford covering defence as easily as opening a can of tuna with an easy-open ring pull; Scott was through and away with nothing in-front of him. The chase to the corner was dramatic but it was Cheshunt’s day and nothing was going to stop that score; following an inter-change of passing it was Daniel (the Jester) Cansick that went over – the crowd erupted!

It was a win to remember, hard fought, well refereed and played in the right spirit. Cheshunt will need to work on the penalty-count in games to come (21 penalties conceded overall) but can take comfort from their dogged-performance and high work-rate. Well done to both teams for a very enjoyable game.

There were exceptional performances throughout the team with all players making a huge effort but really catching the eye were the Jester, who switched effortlessly from fly-half to scrum-half when Dutch was injured, and made solid tackles ensuring the ‘door was shut’ to the Shelford back-row; Max (Mad Max) Longstaff who kept going to tackle, ruck and scrummage his way through a full game – well done Max; Mr Dynamite, whose running-lines and defence were outstanding and, providing a Captain’s performance leading from the front, Man of the Match, Coop’s – great work Tom.

The bar was eerily quiet afterwards – just the two victorious Cheshunt teams (the 16’s won also) sat alone, watching the tumbleweed roll so very slowly across Davey’s Playing Fields.

Dave Mulholland