Eastern Counties Rugby Union

Middlesex arrived as an unknown quantity and soon put Eastern Counties under pressure. A somewhat disjointed game had glimpses of excellence from both teams and Counties could well have been rueing missed opportunities as Middlesex kept coming back after each Counties attack.
Chris Lewis started the scoring with a well worked try out wide with Captain Rob Smith converting well, followed quickly by a converted penalty. Middlesex came back with a break away try. Man of the match Tui Uru who was dominant throughout the whole match scored an unconverted try from a 5 metre scrummage. The back row of Counties were dominant and Henry Cowling pounced over for a well deserved try followed shortly by Sam Easton giving each of the back row a try.
Middlesex improved throughout the match as they moulded as a team, Counties missed a try for a forward pass and another for crossing but still looked strong and with Coaches Kidney and Minifey emptying the bench the intensity of play was kept but the clinical finishing they desired was not evident. Aaron Forrest finished off the scoring for Counties with a well worked try and capped a good performance. Smith converted to complete the scoring. Happy to have won, lead coach Simon Kidney wanted the team to be more clinical as this will be necessary as Counties progress in the competition.

Counties now play in a quarter final at Shelford RFC on 2 April. Kick off 2:15 pm
Squad
Jed McDonald(Cambridge), Aubrey Grimes (Bury St Edmunds), Oliver Coleman (Wymondham), Sam Copeland (Cambridge), Louis Hicks (Nottingham University), Sam Easton (Colchester), Henry Cowling (Sudbury),
Tui Uru(Ipswich), Goncalo Roquette (Anglia Ruskin University), Robert Smith© (Nottingham University),
John Utting (Southwold), Andrew Devoy (Bury St Edmunds), Chris Lewis (Sudbury), Owain Collard (Cambridge), Aaron Forrest (Bury St Edmunds), Chayse Tyler (Cambridge), Joe Akak (Shelford), Henri Cherington (Shelford),
Kevin Kanda (Shelford), Jacob Page (Diss), John Bannerman (Cambridge), Keiran Pask (Diss).
Manager: David Masdin, Coaches: Simon Kidney (Lead), Alun Minifey, Physios: Sam Jones, Annabel Neish, Logistics: Ray Norfolk Clarke