CHELMSFORD kept up the pressure on London Two North East leaders, Norwich, to record a comprehensive 43-17 win against an injury-hit Holt side, who despite their problems on the field contributed to an entertaining game.
The difference between the two sides on the day was the pace of the Chelmsford backs, and whilst the pack is not one of the heaviest in the league the set piece play from the forwards gave the three quarters a good supply of ball and three tries in each half, coupled with five conversions and a penalty from fly half Simon Hoult, saw the home side record their seventh win out of eight matches.
Chelmsford were unlucky not to go ahead within two minutes. The home side kicked off with the ball going straight into touch, but from the resultant scrum the Chelmsford pack took one against the head and a blindside break by scrum half Ben Bailey saw the ball fed down the backline, but wing Jack Acorn was bundled into touch by the corner flag.
Chelmsford, however, made amends several minutes later when Holt were penalised for handling in the ruck and Simon Hoult kicked the penalty from just outside of the 22 metre line.
The lead was increased a few minutes later when prop Miles Pitcher went over for an unconverted try in the corner after Holt had knocked the ball on near their line to give them an 8-0 lead.
On the ten minute mark, Chelmsford scored their second try when Hoult made a good break from his own half, he then fed Acorn, who in turn had centre Adam Cunnah in support and he touched down in the corner for a well taken try. Hoult added the extras to take them into a 15-0 lead.
Holt hit back with two tries themselves, following some indiscipline from the home side and some handling errors. Chelmsford were penalised on their 22 metre line and a quick tap penalty was taken, flanker Jack Venn was then penalised for coming round offside and was subsequently yellow carded.
Another quickly taken penalty resulted in Holt's first try to reduce the lead to 15-5 and then Holt took advantage of the sin binning to break from the scrum and score another unconverted try near the corner to bring the score to 15-10.
Chelmsford gradually began to resume their composure and after Holt were penalised for pulling the scrum down near to their line, the ball went through the phases and from one of these Hoult put Acorn away for a try in the left hand corner and with the successful conversion from near the touchline, Chelmsford now leading 22-10.
With the slope in their favour in the second half, Chelmsford began to impose their superiority on the game and within the first minute, Hoult made a great break and beat several would be tacklers to score an excellent individual try, which he duly converted to take Chelmsford into a 29-10 lead, securing a bonus point.
Coach Eddie Gooby then ran the changes, with Acorn being replaced by Lee Cunnah and prop Steve Prest, replaced by Dean Lester.
It was now a question of how many points Chelmsford would register against a Holt side who were now on the back foot.
On the 55th minute the home side scored their fifth try when from a catch and drive, hooker, Dave Hyett, in his second spell with the club, dived over for a try which was again converted by Hoult.
The home side were unlucky not to score minutes later when the referee deemed that the ball was held up on the Holt line. Not to be outdone, replacement wing Luke Cunnah made a good break down the blind side wing and fed the ball to centre Jamie Morrish and with second row, Nick Crouch, in support, he touched the ball down in the corner to record the home side's sixth try. Hoult converted this to make the score 43-10.
Not to be outdone Holt were rewarded with their efforts in the last ten minutes of the game, when they scored a try underneath the posts in the final minute of the game, converted, Chelmsford ran out worthy winners by 43-17.
Coach Eddie Gooby was full of praise for his squad after the game: "After a few difficult weeks with training and a few players missing again from the match day squad, I was worried that the pack had not trained hard enough together to become a tighter unit to play in these wet conditions, but the pack put in a fantastic performance to give our backs some quality ball.
"We played some fantastic rugby and scored a number of good team tries. What was pleasing for me was the fact we did not allow Holt to play their strong forward based game and constantly put them on the back foot and counter attacked really well on turnover ball.
"We know over the next few weeks that we have some really tough games against teams who thrive in the wet and muddy conditions, so we have to dig deep into our reserves to maintain our winning run, starting next week against a tough Enfield team."
The kick off for the game at Enfield will be 2.30pm.
