Chingford travelled North up the A1 to face Welwyn, a team that are find themselves currently in a relegation position just third from the bottom of the table. Welwyn played as if their league standing depended on this game, and on another day may have found the result more to their liking, but this Chingford side know how to win.

It was cold a blustery day out in Hertfordshire but even with the cold temperature and the harsh wind the was no Frost to be seen, as Chingford's Coach Steve Frost was away on vacation and left the promotion chasing side in the capable hands of his fellow coach Stefan Smith. With the visitors keeping one eye on the forthcoming fixtures against Southend in the Essex Cup Semi Final, and the winner takes all game in the league against table toppers Tring, Chingford rested a few players, and moved around others to give some experience to squad players on the fringe of the side. Coming into the squad was John Hollis a player still at school and a young man that also represents Chingford's Colts team on a Sunday morning. It was family affair as brother Stephen was also playing, and when the younger Hollis came onto the pitch in the final quarter of the game it was a proud moment for father Gary to have both of his sons representing Chingford's 1st XV. "It a a very proud day for the Hollis family, to see both my boys out there in the black, blue and white playing 1st team rugby, I don't mind admitting it did bring a tear to my eye. Being the Coach of the Colts team as well it great to see the youngsters coming through, and it is a good sign for the future" said a proud Father. Brother Stephen added, "When we were kids playing in the garden with one of Dad's old rugby balls, we would play together and now to both being in the same Chingford 1st team, it's an emotional day, great for the Hollis family and great for Chingford RFC long may it continue."

With the usual Chingford brotherhood of Lockwood's being broken today, scrum-half Tom took a rest, allowing Ryan Pask to move in from the wing to the number 9 position, but Matthew lined up in the centres, and as always was a threat to the opposition right from the start. As early as the sixth minute Chingford had blown three definite try scoring opportunities, with either a ridiculous forward pass being thrown, or poor hands dropping the ball with less than 5 metres to go to the try-line. With the referee determined to be the most important man on the field, making interesting decisions for both sides, a game that on paper looked easy to Chingford was beginning to look a possible banana skin, before Chingford's kicking sensation Tobias de-Klerk slotted 2 penalties to get the scoreboard moving. Welwyn then had a prop sent to the sin-bin, but as seemed to be the way the referee wanted to even the game up, and every decision then went against visitors, and Welwyn kicked a penalty to reduce the deficit. Chingford then scored the first try of the day, when the ball was whipped out along the line by Zach Tuebes, Lockwood hit the ball at pace creating space for Ben Jeynes, he fed Neil Carlsson who crashed his way through some weak tackling to touch down right in the corner, for a good try, but de-Klerk failed with the conversion. Welwyn added another penalty after the referee had invented a new law, alien to both sides, and the score at half-time read an unconvincing Welwyn 6 Chingford 11.

I do not know what was said to the Welwyn side at half-time but they came out fired up, knowing that maybe a loss at home would add another nail in the coffin of their London North 2 adventure, and they were rewarded with a early try after Chingford messed around with the ball close to their line, when they had plenty of opportunity to clear the danger. Welwyn came up with the converted try after Ollie Hoad was sent to the sin -bin as the referee thought that Chingford were getting the upper hand, so if he removed a player maybe Welwyn would make a game of it. With Welwyn's try being converted, the home team were now 2 points ahead, but it was not too long before Mr Reliable Tobias "the Kick" de-Klerk kicked another penalty. With Kieran Bowling coming onto replace Steve Piper, and John Williams coming on to replace name sake James, Chingford were trying to attack, and should have posed more of a threat, but were constantly being pulled back by strange refereeing decisions, with an unhealthy obsession for forward passes that were quite obviously not. With Chingford looking more controlled, Knight look pacey out wide, as did both the Hollis brothers, and when a break was made the industrious Campbell was quite often at hand. Chingford's second try of the day fell to the reborn Gavan who burrowed his way through the Welwyn pack after a strong line-out by Burnage. De-Klerk added the conversion and now Chingford were in front 21 - 11 and unlikely to surrender the advantage. With Declan Bird Chingford's Captain having to leave the field with a nasty cut to the head, Piper returned to the action, as did James Williams after John Williams was sent to the sin-bin, once again the referee was the only person who agreed with that decision. Welwyn did try to add to the score but the better organised defence held firm, before de- Klerk added another 3 point penalty and Chingford were home and dry, wining the game by 24 points to 13.

"It was an uninspiring win, but a tough win that we still needed to engineer. The boys are showing good character and fortitude, and these traits are self imposed, they believe in the team culture, and what we are trying to build. The most pleasing aspect is they are learning to win tough, and our senior players are starting to put their hands up, they are bringing our young team forward as we shift our focus on the remaining 3 league games and our Essex Cup Semi-Final against Southend at home in 2 weeks time. We brought home the 2 points which was our aim, and keeps Chingford well in the hunt for a possible promotion" stated Chingford's New Zealand coach Stefan Smith, "of which I am sure will please Steve Frost my coaching partner when he returns from his well earned vacation."