KO 2.30pm

On a wet and squally afternoon, Chingford welcomed North Walsham for what was thought to be their first ever encounter at Waltham Way. Chingford were welcoming back eleven, previously injured, 1^st XV squad players across their first 2 teams which gave an enormous boost to their confidence.

North Walsham chose to have the wind and rain behind them in the first half and this inevitably led to their first penalty after five minutes superbly slotted from a long way out and giving them the lead. They continued to press Chingford for a further 15 minutes but were thwarted b y strong tackling from the home side but after spurning a penalty in front to push for the try in the corner they eventually had to settle for the resultant penalty. From virtually in front again this was missed and all hope of a North Walsham win went with it. Chingford now gained the advantage and began to push this home with continuous pressure on the NW line. After half an hour a superb grubber behind the NW three-quarters gave Tom Lowry a footrace into the corner which he felt he won but the ref couldn’t be certain and awarded a five metre scrum. NW cracked soon after and the penalty was slotted by Brandon Hart to make the half time score three all.

The rain eased off for ten minutes and this allowed both sides to swop attacks and Chingford to lose their skipper Dave Brown with a serious injury and welcome back to the team the club skipper Mick Lee for the first time since September last year. Shortly after, the rain returned with a vengeance, Chingford eventually penetrated the NW defence with Kurt Forward scoring our in the corner. Brandon Hart got the extras and there followed wave after wave of Chingford assaults before Matt Lockwood touched down at the bottom of a push over try, again slotted by Hart. NW struck back straight from the restart taking a quick penalty and scoring unopposed to make the score 17 - 8. This woke Chingford back up and further pressure allowed Forward to charge down a clearing kick and score right in the corner. Brandon Hart converted this to give himself a 100% record for the day and Chingford a 24 – 8 win.   

1.       Steve Piper

2.       Matt Lockwood

3.       Billy Spinks

4.       John Burnage

5.       Ben Jeynes

6.       Barnaby Bury

7.       Dave Brown (Capt)

8.       Ollie Hoad

9.       JP Sharpe

10.    Kurt Forward

11.    Tom Lowry

12.    Kalem Abbott

13.    Brandon Hart

14.    Andre Cabrera

15.    Joe Shimizu

Subs:

1.       Ben Bolton-Smith

2.       Mick Lee

3.       Keiron Bowling