Eastern Counties Rugby Union

Eastern Counties Wanderers playing for the first time in three decades and drawing players from clubs 11 across Eastern Counties made the trip north to take on Cheshire Harvesters as a curtain raiser to the Cheshire vs Eastern Counties in the opening round of the Bill Beaumont County Championship Division 1.

The Wanderers started strongly with number 8 Chris Blom carrying well, fly half Corey Button seeing that there was a penalty advantage chipped through, a wicked bounce allowing him to regather and score, he then added the extras putting the away side in front 7-0 with 12 minutes on the clock.
The Harvesters replied with an unconverted try from Jow Silcock as sustained pressure on the Harvesters allowed them to break through and score, narrowing the deficit to two points at 5-7 at the end of the first quarter as the conversion bounced of the upright.
The Harvesters extended this lead two minutes later as they stole a Wanderers line before shipping the ball to the backs, scrum half Liam Isaacs scoring under the posts, Ben Elliot added the extras to take a 7-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Silcock was again on the score sheet for the Harvesters as he outpaced the Wanderers fullback to score, Elliot added the conversion to stretch the home-sides lead to 7-19 after 30mins.
As the half time approach the Wanderers breached the line again, this time from Blom who powered over from close range, Button added the conversion to narrow the deficit at 19-14.
The home side again stretched their lead as blind side flanker James Reeve caught the Wanderers defence napping as he broke from a ruck to score, Elliot adding the extras to take the score to 26-14 at half time.

With both sides able to counter the others attack, it wasn’t until the 50th minute until the deadlock was broken with the Harvesters number 8 Greg Wood scoring from a lineout, Elliot adding the conversion to take the lead to 14-31.

The Wanderers however responded well taking the game back to the Harvesters, a break by tight head prop setting up a try for Shawn Van Rensburg narrowed the deficit to 19-31.
With five minutes left on the clock Michael Watts made a rampaging break and was well supported by Wanderers’ fullback Chris Baird who score a fine try which Button duly converted to bring the visitors to within one score at 31-26. However, this proved to be the final score as the Harvesters stood firm and held out for the win.

After the game the Wanderers Head Coach Nick Greenhall said he was pleased with the teams energy and enthusiasm and praised their ability to come back into the game when they could have easily let their heads go down and he looked forward to next week’s fixture against Lancashire.

Team: Aki Downing (Ipswich), Brad James (Stowmarket), Michael Watts (Wisbech), Jake Goodwin (Ipswich), Simon Darby(Wymondham), Callum Jeffery (Hadleigh), Josh Meadows (St Ives), Chris Blom (Ipswich), Tom Duffy (Shelford), Corey Button (Bury St. Edmunds), Dotun Ogun ( Stowmarket), Alan Barker (Ipswich), Josh Clark (Thetford), Tawanda Kandemwa (Ipswich), Chris Baird (Diss)
Replacements: Ollie Charlish (Wymondham), Lewis Jeffery (Hadleigh), Ben Grimwood (Ipswich), Shawn Van Rensburg (Hadleigh), Chris Collins-Read (Wymondham), Ryan Garner (Thetford), Bruce Van Portvleit (Holt)