Eastern Counties Rugby Union

Eastern Counties journey in the County Championship came to an end on the field at Twickenham losing out to a Surrey side who scored two tries to nil dominating at the breakdown which ultimately was Eastern Counties undoing.
Right from the kick off Surrey were on the front foot, but great defence in particular from ECRU lock Wolfenden in the early exchanges pinned Surrey back.
The first scrum took place with only 3 minutes on the clock with the ECRU pack being driven back, despite this a Hipwell charge from the back of the scrum making it to half way before being hauled down. The resulting quick ball allowed Penfold to box kick for the corner, great chasing from Gillick and a big hit resulted in a scrum for ECRU. From which ECRU moved the ball quickly but were penalised for holding on the ball at the tackle allowing Surrey to clear their lines.
The first score of the game came from a break in the centres by Surrey with Terelak finding a great inside line to bisect a scrambling defence to dot the ball down. Noble added the two points from out wide on the right flank to put Surrey at 7 points to nil in front in the 9th minute.
Surrey gain control of the ball soon after the kick off, but another massive hit by Wolfenden forced a knock on and scrum for ECRU, despite putting the ball through a number of phases ECRU were unable to break a solid defensive line.
At the 16th minute mark veteran Brett of Southwold replaced Naqasima at tight head to add experience to the front row.
It was even Stephens in the lineout, with neither side dominating, with much of the play taking place in the centre of the field both attacks being nullified by organised defences.
Again the power of the ECRU pack was on display this time with Aki Lea showing there was no way through the middle halting abruptly a mazy run by Betty the Surrey fullback. From the resulting scrum ECRU forced a penalty, Fullback Stokes stepped up to take by no means an easy kick from 40m out which he slotted with laser like accuracy, reducing the deficit to 3-7.
With the first quarter almost over ECRU hopes were raised further with Gillick slicing through the Surrey defence and racing to the try line to score, but the celebrations were not long lived as the referee pulled play back to the Surrey 22 and awarding them a penalty for crossing.
At this point Bixby replaced Johnson on the openside flank.
Surrey were again on the break, with a clever kick to the corner by Pimlow almost popping up for right wing Terelak, but Mike Aytron was on hand to Shepard the ball in to touch.
From the lineout poor handling by Surrey lead to an ECRU scrum and again despite the pressure Hipwell carried the ball a full 40m to half way to relieve pressure on the ECRU line.
With 8 minutes to play in the first half a penalty at the scrum led to some quick thinking and even quicker feet by Crow the Surrey scrum half who caught the ECRU defence napping to race in from 40m to score Surrey’s second and what proved to be the final try of the game. Which was duly converted by Noble stretching their lead to 3-14, which they maintained until half time.
After the break ECRU started strong, but were soon on the back foot with much of the play taking place deep in ECRU territory. The Surrey back row, in particular Elbrow making himself a nuisance and spoiling any chance of quick ball for ECRU.
With a comfortable lead Surrey locked down the defence pinning ECRU back at every opportunity and when in attack mode kept the ball for phase after phase limiting the attacking opportunities for ECRU.
ECRU showed glimpses of their form from previous rounds, but were ultimately out played at the breakdown and found it difficult at the set piece to generate the quality ball they needed to break down the solid Surrey defence.
ECRU’s defence was solid and proved unbreakable limiting Surrey to a solitary penalty in the second half.
A late flourish by ECRU who threw all they had at the Surrey defence in phase after phase of hard and direct running, but ultimately and despite leaving everything on the pitch were unable to increase on their 3 point score in the first half.
Team:
Eastern Counties Rugby Union
15 James Stokes (Cambridge)
14 Mike Gillick (Cambridge)
13 Albert Portsmouth (Cambridge)
12 James Ayrton (Cambridge)
11 Mike Ayrton (Cambridge)
10 James Shanahan Capt. (Old Albanians)
1 Matt Warrall-Clare (Cambridge)
2 Ean Griffiths (Cambridge)
3 Sisa Naqaima (Shelford)
4 Martin Wolfended (Cambridge)
5 Ollie Marriot (Cambridge)
6 Aki Lea (Shelford)
7 Simon Johnson (Cambridge)
8 Steve Hipwell (Cambridge)
Replacements
Simon Uzokwe (Darlington Mowden Park)
Sam Bixby (Burry St Edmonds)
Red Newbury (Shelford)
Conor Gracey (Cambridge)
Des Brett (Southwold)
Harry Peck (Cambridge University)
Ben Murphy (Colchester)

Team Management
Adrian Gilbert – Chair of Player Management
Rowland Winter – Director of Rugby
David Masdin – Team Manager
Shaun Gardener – Assistant Team Manager
Mark Bolton – Lead Coach
Peter Kolakowski – Forwards Coach
Ben Fitches – Strength & Conditioning Coach
Steph Dear – Physiotherapist
Ray Norfolk-Clarke - Logistics