Chelmsford Vs Southwold

It was a slightly skeleton crew that took the long drive to Chelmsford for the Swallows first away game, with people playing out of position due to injury and unavailability they travelled with a bare 16.
Hopes were high from the kick off with Southwold’s spirits soaring from their three wins and so far undefeated status. Chantelle Savage took the drop kick and the Southwold pack chased with Jessica Fletcher making a hard first hit against one of the Chelmsford props. Chelmsford remained in possession of the ball for the next ten minutes with Southwold hemming them into their own half with good defensive line speed. Jolene Carr took a nasty tackle and had to come off for injury which left Southwold with no subs. After the pause Southwold were given their first chance to test out the might of their pack and with Rianna Lees making her debut at hook the scrum worked well with Southwold powering over the ball. Southwold were turned over during a ruck and Chelmsford eventually found a gap in the line and their full back made a run from within their own half to score a try under the posts which was subsequently converted. After the re-start the swallows showed some serious promise keeping possession of the ball with the forwards crashing the ball up. Unfortunately due to numerous penalties for offside and hands in the ruck this lead to Chelmsford putting Southwold on the back foot and with quick hands passing out to the wing they scored in the corner, with no conversion and 5 minutes before half time this put the swallows 12-0 down. From the kick the Swallows showed this game was far from over and newly returned Jen Stafford made a break, sucked in three of their players and promptly offloaded to Amy Gregory who passed down the line to Chantelle Savage who saw the gap and headed for the line to score a try in the corner which wasn’t converted. At half time the Swallows were 12-5 down and tensions were high after a team talk from Captain Lorraine Calver Southwold pulled up their socks and prepared for the restart.
From the kick off it was evident that the Swallows were not going to go down without a fight and they fought for every bit of territory they could. This put Chelmsford on the back foot with their team showing fatigue and Southwold forwards putting in some big hits but they still couldn’t seem to score with players making breaks but being wrapped up and not exploiting the space or the gaps. There was a break in play for injury and Southwold discussed tactics. With 10 minutes to go and a newly found strategy Southwold crashed the ball up from the back of a scrum and quickly spread it wide with quick hands and foot work from scrum half Lucy Whayman and fly half Amy Gregory, Chantelle Savage then made a break for the line and snaked through the defence to score her second try under the posts which was quickly converted by Jessica Fletcher. From the kick Southwold quickly moved the ball and sucked in the defence to once again spread the ball wide with quick hands from the back line; Chantelle Savage again found a gap and headed for the line to score again in the corner the kick was missed but Southwold quickly got back and set ready to receive. With flanker Gill Morris receiving the grubber kick just over the 10, Southwold reacted quickly and moved the ball out to the backs who passed it out wide for Chantelle Savage to receive an inside pass from second row Michaela Scarle and then score again under the posts, this was soon converted by Jessica Fletcher. With only 2 minutes of play left after the restart the ball was kicked into touch and the resulting lineout was won by Southwold who passed the ball out to the backs, the ball was subsequently knocked on in the tackle and with the clock counting down the scrum was the last play of the game with Southwold winning the ball and Scrum half Lucy Whayman passing the ball to Chantelle Savage who kicked it into touch calling an end of the game.
The score at full time was 12-24. This was a very close game and it has to be noted that the result could have gone either which way. Southwold have a few areas to work on before their game against Harlow on the common next Sunday but have every intention of keeping their undefeated title.