Essex 36 - 19 Hertfordshire

Success at last for Essex U20's as they beat Hertfordshire 36 - 19.  In an entertaining game Essex were put on the back foot early on when Hertfordshire opened up the scoring with a converted try after fifteen minutes.  Essex fought back and following a maul on the Herts 5 metre line Rochford's Michael Legge drove over to score Essex's first try in the competition.  The conversion went wide but Essex's first points were on the board.  Ten minutes later Southend's Leon Gateson burst through the centre to score under the posts giving Thurrock's Adam Kain an easy conversion to take the score to 12 - 7.  Herts fought back but Essex kept them at bay until the half time whistle.  Following the break Herts managed a try of their own though McDonald converted by stand off Tirrell to give Herts the lead 12 - 14.  It was not until half way through the second half that Essex regained control of the match Leon Gateson scored his second try of the match as he outpaced the Hertfordshire backs.  With Essex now piling on the pressure Eton Manors Reece Reid came on as substitute and immediately scored a try as he charged down a kick by the Herts standoff and quickly gathered up to loose ball to dash over the line from 22 metres out.  With Kain having left the field with an injury, Reid converted his own try to make the score 31 - 14.  Chelmsford's Tony Millar added to the Essex score five minutes later when quick ball from the ruck went along the back line for Millar to score in the corner.  Just on the stroke of full time Herts took the game back to Essex scoring a consolation try to make the final score 36 - 19.  Chris Green the Essex coach said after the match " Todays team was a vast improvement on our previous matches.  We were able to bring in some  experienced and older lads who had not been available in the previous matches due to club commitments.  I must thank their clubs and coaches for releasing these boys and proving that Essex Rugby is a force to contend with." Essex Secretary Ivor Smith said " This was a good performance and I am pleased for the boys as they worked hard.  We are also grateful for the efforts of those boys that supported the County in the previous matches.  Many of them will still be available next season and they will have benefited from the experience.

The last match in the U20's Championship in on Sunday 5th March at Southend RFC Kick off 2.15pm

It is not only the boys in Essex that are doing well - This weekend the Essex u124 and Under 17 girls attended a RFUW rugby festival in North Wales. 

The Essex Under 17’s and 14’s girls travelled across the border to Wales on the Saturday 11th of February for their first ever tour to take part in a triangular U14’s match and to take on a Newport Regional team.  The under 14’s played two excellent games against teams from Garndiffaith and Newport beating them 55 – 0 and 45 – 5 respectively.  Try’s came from Sam Smith, Rhea Mills, Hannah McCready, Ellie Martin, Emily Clark, India Harvey, Charlotte McCready, Emily Scott and Siobhan Allison.

The Under 17’s opposition were the Welsh Regional Team – RBT.  After conceding a try and conversion in the initial exchanges, the Essex girls settled down to playing good fast open rugby to claw back to an extremely convincing win by 38 points to 7 with try’s from Veronica Ely, Francesca Tomassi, Kat Emmerson (twice), Natalie McClaranon with 4 of the 6 try’s being converted by Libby Peak and Cherelle Alphonse.  All three games were very typically welsh physical games but the Essex Girls under the cuidance of their Essex Coaches relied on skills to out try their opponents.

Chairwoman of Essex County RFUW Christine Emerson was pleased with the performance of the girls “ We only began the Essex County side at U14 and U17 this year and they have already shown that they are a County side to be reckoned with.  We are still concentrating on developing the women and girtls game in Essex and with the girls that came on tour this year it shows that we must be on the right track.  Though the main intention was Rugby as Sunday dawned bright and damp, spirits were high as all the girls attempted to climb the walls of the Welsh International Climbing Centre, with much laughter and team spirit, every girl and adult managed to climb at least one wall.  This whole venture has benefited the girls who have bonded well into a team.”

Without a number of first choice players due to a clash of fixtures with the East Midlands Colts Cup and a re-arranged Essex County Senior Cup match, Essex took to the field with a relatively young and inexperienced squad at County level.  Unfortunately we came up against a well prepared and drilled Kent side full of talent and experience.  Despite the obvious mix match the Essex squad continued to play rugby right up to the final whistle and began to show their potential especially in the second half when they were able to put together a number of phases of play.

Final Score Kent 86 - 0 Essex