DESPITE a three week lay-off Chelmsford showed no signs of rustiness as they outclassed struggling Old Cooperians on Saturday.
A postponement and a blank weekend had seen Chelmsford gameless but they triumphed 55-0, recording their sixth successive league win.
The home side scored eight tries and man of the match, Simon Hoult, pulled the strings from fly-half, scoring 20 of Chelmsford's points, with six conversions, a penalty and a try.
This win secures Chelmsford's second place in the London Two North East table, a point behind leaders, Diss, as they were handed a walk over against Braintree, but Chelmsford have a game in hand.
Chelmsford were missing skipper, Paul Redford, who was on honeymoon and Jack Venn came into the side at wing forward, with Chris Hoult moving to No 8.
The visitors chose to play down the slope and with the wind, but Chelmsford dominated proceedings from the off.
After seven minutes they were awarded a penalty kick for Old Coops being offside in the backs. Simon Hoult duly obliged with the kick to put the home side 3-0 ahead.
The lead was increased five minutes later, when centre, Adam Cunnah scored an excellent try, following good approach work from both Jamie Ash and Jamie Morrish and with the conversion Chelmsford increased their lead to 10-0.
The visitors were not able to mount any worthwhile attacks, as the home side dominated possession and Chelmsford's defence for the whole game was outstanding.
Not surprisingly Chelmsford scored their second try after 22 minutes, full-back Jamie Ash made a good break along the touchline and passed the ball inside to Simon Hoult, he kicked ahead and a mistake by the Old Coops defence saw the ball bounce up into his hands and he scored an unopposed try, which he converted to make the score 17-0.
Chelmsford scored their third and fourth tries before half-time to secure the bonus point.
The third try was all about some excellent interpassing between Simon Hoult and Josh Cavey, leading up to Cunnah's second try on the half hour mark.
Then four minutes later a trademark individual try from Ash saw him running from inside his own half along the touchline, beating several would be tacklers, to score the game's best try.
With the last try being converted, Chelmsford were in total command and led by 29-0 at the interval.
It was really a question of how many points Chelmsford would score in the second half, with the elements in their favour and with some astute kicking from Simon Hoult, the visitors were continually pegged back in their own half.
The conditions didn't make it easy for both sides, but credit to both teams who kept the ball alive at every opportunity.
Chelmsford brought on Tristan Olive and Alex Ellis in the second half in place of Will Ferrier and Nick Crouch, who slightly aggravated a hamstring injury.
They scored their fifth try after only a few minutes, when No 8, Chris Hoult broke from a scrum to touch down near the posts and with the successful conversion that took them into a 36-0 lead.
Continued pressure from the home side resulted in three further tries, a brace from wing, Jack Acorn and a second try for Chris Hoult, following pressure on the visitor's line.
Two of the tries were converted by Simon Hoult to take the final score to 55-0.
The last ten minutes of the game were played out in a hailstorm and inevitably the game lost it's shape slighty, but nevertheless, Chelmsford ran out worthy winners and to nil the opposition was a great testament to their defensive qualities.
Coach Eddie Gooby said he had been worried about the game beforehand, given the squad's break from action.
"Even though training had gone well there's nothing like match fitness," he said. " Having said that we played some great running rugby in testing conditions.
"This was a good game to comeback to for us and scoring eight tries it was very comfortable but all credit to Old Coops they never let their heads drop.
"The next few weeks are going to be intense and I know the squad are looking forward to the challenges ahead.
"I felt we had a lot left in the tank and could have stepped up to another level.
"Starting next week at Holt we need to be focused and at the top of our game. Training and selection is going to be interesting because we have at least six players returning who were missing against Old Coops and over the next six games we will need everyone."
