Sat 17 Sep 2022
It is always encouraging to win on the road especially at the start of a new season, and Letchworth certainly won emphatically at Woodford on Saturday by a clear three score margin. This was despite missing several key players in the back line, but those drafted in or playing out of position such as ‘Wonky’ Dave Rae and Luke Mongston did not let their team down. There were also encouraging performances by youngsters Staddon, Dell and Palmer, whilst the grand maestro Josh Sharp pulled all the right strings at 10. Up front there was a fine farewell performance by Joe Allison in the second row and Tommy Wilcock certainly came of age with a really fine performance as his partner. It was also gratifying to see the front row of Stokes, Hughes and Robinson demolish their somewhat hefty opponents upfront in the scrummage.
The first 15 minutes were fairly evenly contested with much of the game being between the two 22 lines. Woodford were awarded two penalties which were extremely kickable but fortunately their flyhalf Mead had left his boots in the dressing room and shied both of them. Then a great line out take deep in the Woodford half by Joe Allison saw the ball moved quickly to Sharp who fed Jack Askham bursting through, and the return pass sent the flyhalf under the posts for a seven pointer once he had converted it.
Woodford countered but a great tackle by Ben Palmer put them in to touch and snuffed out the danger. Dave Rae was in the thick of things but was unfortunate to receive a head injury and had to leave the field to be replaced by Conor Turner. Turner added useful bulk at the next driving line out following a penalty to the corner by Sharp, and a great 15 metre drive saw them rumble over with evergreen hooker ‘Rambo’ Hughes coming up with the ball.
Letchworth were now rampant as the ball was moved wide through Tom Lewis, Sharp and Harvey Howman. At the end of the move who else but club captain Oscar Robinson was in the right place to score his third try in two matches and be the clubs leading try scorer.
Woodford’s restart was long and loose and was picked up by youngster Josh Staddon who galloped through five despairing tackles. Tom Lewis took the ball up and then presented Joe Allison with a fine farewell present with a try under the posts. Sharp converted to make it 26 nil at half-time and Woodford seem down and out. Letchworth already had their bonus point.
However the third quarter definitely belonged to the Essex side through their two wingers. Firstly Phipps kicked ahead, gathered his own kick and touched down. Despite their forward dominance Letchworth lost the ball out wide and again were punished by the flying winger.
At 14/26 Woodford were back in it. However Letchworth were deep in the home side’s 22 and from a scrum penalty the ball was moved from Tom Lewis to Harvey Howman who found Josh Dell to touchdown for a fine try. Woodford’s other winger Kenan Brown then ghosted through for a fine individual score to pull things back to 19/33.
Whilst not out of sight Letchworth were certainly dominating things up front and Woodford lost a prop as a result with a yellow card. As they went to uncontested scrums they also lost another player and now the result was not going to be in doubt.
With 10 minutes left an uncontested scrum to Letchworth saw Jack Askham take a great line through and then Tommy Wilcock picked up and literally smashed his way over the line to score under the posts to make it 19/40. As the onlooking Darren ‘Big Dog’ Spillane put it he banged the full back so hard he had to pay to get back into the ground!
The game had been played in great spirits up to this point. However a cowardly stamp by the Woodford 13 Ian Meads on prone prop Richard Stokes changed all this, and the atmosphere became increasingly ugly as the game drew to a close. There were several scuffles, handbags etcetera etcetera that you would expect following such an incident. Fortunately for the culprit the referee totally missed it.
With Letchworth pressing deep into the Woodford 22 again the whistle was blown for the end of the game and a very satisfying bonus point win for the visitors, who now travel just down the road to Woodford‘s neighbours Chingford for another away game next Saturday.
The next home game will be on October 1 against Eton Manor who are definitely having a good start to the season. It should be a mighty clash and there will be a league lunch before this game so all diners should book in early doors with President Brian Burke on (07768) 274037.
Team from 1:
Robinson
Hughes
Stokes
Wilcock
Allison
Rae
Askham
Lewis
Howman
Sharp
Staddon
Mongston
Gurure
Dell
Palmer
Turner
Tate
Toomey
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