Westcliffe v Thurrock

After our league match had been cancelled by Chingford, we were keen to keep up the momentum with the squad, so we decided to play an away fixture with Westcliffe; we knew it was going to be tough but the boys rose to the occasion.

The game started at a fast pace from both teams, as we expected, but within the first 10 minutes Westcliffe had good possession of the ball; they moved it out wide and slipped passed our defence to get the first try (which was also converted). Thurrock kept their nerve and came out fighting and as the game went on you could see the Thurrock players' confidence growing. Thurrock's forwards and backs were linking up well and began to get a few phases of play together which marched Westcliffe back inside their 22 where Thurrock were awarded a penalty; with some quick thinking from Harry Millsom a quick tap and go resulted in Edward Suddell scoring the T's first try. Shortly afterwards, again with some charging runs from our forwards and some good support from our backs, Harry Crellin found himself one on one with the Westcliffe winger but luckily for the T's Harry had the pace to get around him and cross the try line once more.

Westcliffe were also not prepared to sit back and came back at us hard and pinned us in our own 22 for a while but the T's defended well and forced the game back up field. However, Westcliffe again pushed the ball wide and managed to get through to earn their second try.

Half time score 12-10 to Westcliffe.

The second half started off as intense as the first with the T's again pinning the home team in their 22 but unfortunately we could not capitalise on this and Westcliffe eventually cleared their line. With some key changes from the extensive Westcliffe bench, they were able to break though our line once more. The Westcliffe team, with the wind in their favour began testing our new full back Joe Kelly but with some good strong running from him and great composure, were forced back into their own half. However further changes to the Westcliffe backs only strengthened their attack which led to two more tries against us.

Final score 31- 10

Great play from our lads and its very true to say the score did not reflect the match. Credit also needs to go to Harry Wielman who made the trip and was prepared to play even though he was clearly in pain with an injury.

Great team spirit.

Man of the Match: Tom Ray for some strong running and great supportive play