Under 17's Match reports
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Under 17’s
Eastern Counties 0 21 ESSEX 27
15 James White (Romford & Gidea Park)
14 Jamie Harbour (Romford & Gidea Park)
13 Dan Donnelly (Romford & Gidea Park)
12 Tom Joslin (Romford & Gidea Park)
11 Nick Walker (Chingford)
10 Danny Clear (Rochford)
9 Matt Phillips (Romford & Gidea Park)
8 James Lock (Romford & Gidea Park)
7 John Melvin (Romford & Gidea Park)
6 Rob Grocock (South Woodham Ferrers)
5 Michael Legge (Rochford)
4 Liam Smith (Thurrock)
3 Jon Mason (Romford & Gidea Park)
2 James O’Sullivan (Thurrock)
1 John Webb (Romford & Gidea Park)
Replacements: Andy Adams, Matt Catchpole, Dan Jackson (Romford & Gidea Park) Myles Regan , Andy Williams South Woodham Ferrers)
Tryscorers Conversion
Rob Grocock James White
Dan Donnelly
James White
Danny Clear (2)
Essex played their 3rd successive away fixture against Eastern Counties on Sunday up at Sudbury in front of a partisan home crowd. This was likely to prove to be their toughest fixture to date as last year many of the players from both sides were teammates. However as the score line suggests this was not the case.
Early E.C. pressure counted for nothing as Essex’s defence held firm and as Essex got a foothold in the game the first score was not long in coming. A lineout 10 metres out saw a maul rumble towards the try line and Grocock was bundled over for the opening score. The much-vaunted E.C. pack had no answer to the aggressive Essex forwards as time after time they buckled under the pressure exerted on them. With such dominance the Essex backs were able to play with confidence and were rewarded with a Dan Donnelly try under the posts, which meant that they turned round 12 points to the good.
Immediately from the kickoff Liam Smith took a high ball and quick ball saw Danny Clear skip through some weak defence to score the first of his brace of tries. With E.C. desperately trying to prevent the game from running away from them, their heads went down as White came into the line from fullback to score Essex’s fourth try. The final score came after excellent work from the forwards sucked in the E.C. defence for Clear to score his second try of the afternoon.
It is testament to the side that this is the 2nd successive game that the opposition have been unable to score a point and there has been continuous improvement in the 4 games that they have played. However as this is the 2nd stage of a 3-part plan there is plenty of work to be done and the players and management know that they can’t afford to standstill if a successful assault is to be made on next seasons Under 18’s divisional championship.
Sussex 21 ESSEX 25
15 Dan Donnelly (Romford & Gidea Park)
14 Jamie Harbour (Romford & Gidea Park)
13 Mark Billings (Basildon)
12 Tom Joslin (Romford & Gidea Park)
11 James White (Romford & Gidea Park)
10 Danny Cleare (Rochford)
9 Matt Phillips (Romford & Gidea Park)
8 James Lock (Romford & Gidea Park)
7 Ben Dane (Westcliff)
6 Ollie Gordon (Brentwood)
5 Michael Legge (Rochford)
4 Mark Sykes (Brentwood)
3 Jon Mason (Romford & Gidea Park)
2 James O’Sullivan (Thurrock)
1 Paul Verney (Thurrock)
Replacements: John Melvin (Romford & Gidea Park) Ben Bolton-Smith, (Chingford) Alex Priddle (Brentwood) Ben Lonergan (Westcliff) Adam Jones (Romford & Gidea Park) Alex Martin (South Woodham Ferrers) Sam Carpenter (Rochford)
Tryscorers Conversion
James O’Sullivan
Ollie Gordon
Mark Billings
Danny Cleare
James Lock
Essex played there opening away fixture in this current Development campaign by showing a marked improvement from the last game. The crowd were hugely entertained by a game of rugby where the final score was always in doubt, however Essex managed to come away with the spoils.
The opening 10 minutes saw Essex have to withstand constant pressure from the well-drilled Sussex side that constantly saw them make inroads into Essex territory, scrambling defence by all XV repelled the threat and Essex managed to get a foothold in the game. A penalty deep into the Sussex half opened the scoring when Matt Phillips declined the attempt for 3 and went for the bigger prize, the superb Essex forwards duly rewarded his decision by sending O’Sullivan crashing over in the corner. As Essex began to dominate, a wayward pass saw Sussex go under the posts to leave Essex trailing by 2 however the response was emphatic as Gordon came from deep to see the lead change hands again. Unable to relax though Sussex again came back for another converted try which meant that by the time Billings had ghosted in from 35 metres Essex held a slender 1 point lead at the interval.
After the break Sussex gained the early initiative with a simple penalty, but this just seemed to make Essex dig deeper and work harder together. Phase after phase of forward pressure saw the ball swung out to Cleare to push the lead into Essex’s favour again. Then for the first time in the match Essex began to dominate and with Sussex unable to get their hands on the ball the ensuing penalties saw Essex awarded a penalty on the Sussex 22. Up stepped Phillips to give Essex lineout 7 metres out. The driving maul resulted in Lock emerging from the pile of bodies to claim the 5th try of the afternoon. As the game came to its conclusion the final Sussex score had no impact on the final score and Essex celebrated their first win as a Constituent Body at Under 17’s.
This weeks performance was based on an aggressive controlled platform created by a very mobile and athletic set of forwards marshalled by Mason, Dane and Sykes. If they were the broadswords the backs were certainly the rapiers as the incisive breaks made them kept Essex moving towards the Sussex line and keep the hosts just out of reach in the business end of the match.
Under 17’s
15 Alex Priddle (Brentwood
14 Jamie Harbour (Romford & Gidea Park)
13 Nick Walker (Chingford)
12 Tom Joslin (Romford & Gidea Park)
11 James White (Romford & Gidea Park)
10 Danny Cleare (Rochford)
9 Matt Phillips (Romford & Gidea Park)
8 Rob Grocock (South Woodham Ferrers)
7 Ben Dane (Westcliff)
6 Ben Lonergan (Westcliff)
5 Liam Smith (Thurrock)
4 Mark Sykes (Brentwood)
3 Jon Mason (Romford & Gidea Park)
2 James O’Sullivan (Thurrock)
1 Sam Carpenter (Rochford)
Replacements: John Melvin (Romford & Gidea Park) Michael Legge (Rochford) James Lock (Romford & Gidea Park) Paul Verney (Thurrock) Ollie Gordon (Brentwood)
Tryscorers Conversion
Rob Grocock
Essex have played in a variety of conditions in their development fixtures, there was the wind v. Surrey, sunshine and snow v.Sussex and on Sunday the driving rain and gluepot pitch v. Herts. This however gave the management an ideal opportunity to see how Essex would cope in a low scoring game.
On a pitch were there was difficulty distinguishing the white lines marking the pitch Essex made the best of the conditions by playing positive rugby from the start indeed they were desperately unlucky to have a perfectly good try ruled out within the 1st 10 minutes. In a game that was always going to be dominated by the forwards Essex strode manfully to contain a bulky Herts pack with Sykes,Dane and Mason as usual putting in commanding performances.
From a maul set up on the Herts 22 Essex drove towards centre field allowing Grocock to open the scoring and what a valuable score this proved to be.
The 2nd half saw Herts put plenty of pressure on the Essex tryline but this was to no avail as stout scrambling defence kept out Herts. With frustration creeping into the home side a penalty kick to touch was declined and Essex swept up the pitch to send White in at the corner only for the touch judge to rule out the effort for a “double movement” this proved to be the highlight of an otherwise dour game where the weather proved to be the defining factor.
Even though the weather did its best to spoil the game, the management were able to give every member of the squad a least a full half and all the players acquitted themselves well.The final game against Eastern Counties will certainly give the selectors a headache in picking the strongest XV to line up in the final development game of this season.