Southend Rugby Club

[east stand drummer boy]

This saturday whilst all u boys were watching the shrimpers Southend Rugby CLub 1st team pulled off the display of the season with us beating the team who are tipped to get the runners up spot with a 15 - 13 win with a great perormance from the team in the 1st half we went in 10 - 8 down and lost another 3 points from the boot of the north walsham scrum half but then with 18 minutes to go we played a rolling maul from our 22 to their try line where the captain james shearing scored and the kick was then coverted brilliantly against a gale down at warners bridge. And then we went on to win the game after a massive last ten minute push from North walsham

Go on Southend now lets beat black heath in the new year.

 

[east stand drummer boy]

1st XV

North Walsham were forced to give second best to a seemingly more committed Southend on Saturday - match report
20 December 2003
Southend 15 North Walsham 13
North Walsham were forced to give second best to a seemingly more committed Southend on Saturday but thanks to the other results still hang on to joint leadership of the table. The statistics show that the Essex side have been leaking points all season but they pulled out all the stops to plug the gaps, and the two point difference is a fair reflection of the game as a whole.

Having won the toss Walsham decided to play into the strong breeze that was blowing straight down the pitch, aiming to soak up the pressure in the first half and take advantage of the conditions in the second. Southend made their intentions clear in the opening minutes with a big drive off a lineout but Walsham held them and took the game to them. Reduced to fourteen after ten minutes when Paul Cayley was yellow carded for allegedly pulling down a maul they found themselves on the defensive and conceded a penalty enabling Ali Chambers put the first points on the board for the home side. Southend were using the wind to kick long balls but when they failed to find touch Chris Borrett was always ready to run it back at them, and a good move down the right when he linked up with Hoyles and Thorpe looked dangerous. Thorpe was taken out late as he chipped ahead but Walsham lost the ensuing lineout and the threat came to nothing. Walsham looked the more inventive with both van Poortvliet, Groom and Furlong carrying the ball well in set piece moves but it was to be a day when defences dominated and headway was hard to make. Scores often come from unlikely situations and Walsham were caught short when the Southend back row broke as one from a scrum some thirty metres out, went blind, and Dave McDonald made the touchdown but too wide out for Chambers to add the extras. Five minutes later they lost outside half Ben Green to the sin bin and almost immediately Walsham struck. A kick out of defence was half charged down by Southend, Will Farrer and Craig May were up quickly to recover the ball. Farrer fed Andy Thorpe and the winger made the full fifty metres outstripping the defence to plant the ball for his fifth try of the season and give Holmes an easy conversion.

A single point down at the break with the elements in their favour seemed to bode well for Walsham but van Poortvliet had been playing with a “dead leg” for thirty five minutes and made way for Kenny Dodds but the Kiwi who started with a big dash into the heart of the defence lasted just sixteen minutes before suffering a serious looking knee injury. Ollie Arnold came on and went into the second row but the re organisation of the back five diminished their effectiveness. In the interim two penalties from Matt Holmes gave Walsham a five point lead and they should have taken control but Southend to their credit were determined in their approach and although their tactic of trying to bulldoze their way through the middle brought nothing but stern resistance from the Walsham midfield. Midway through the half came the crucial strike when Southend set up a driving maul from a lineout and skipper James Spearing emerged from the heap with the ball. Chambers kicking into the breeze struck the ball well but the ball just scr*ped over the bar to establish the winning margin. The final quarter was hard fought but neither side looked likely to add points and the home side were rightly delighted with their win. Walsham were dejected but they were at less than their best in a few key areas and with one of their youngest ever back lines lacked a decision maker. However their dejection was lifted by the news that both Blackheath and Barking had lost although Launceston, Walsham’s next opponents, won and joined them and Blackheath in equal first place and with a game in hand look serious contenders for to spot.

Bit more of a indeapth report

 

[Welsh_Shrimperz]

How many fans u get at Southend Rugby Club, if Southend was playing away, I would go to watch Southend Rugby Club. I hope that can be sorted next season.

Will SRFC ground share Root-Hall or hopefully Fossett Farm Stadium (In my dream) if they ever win promotion to 1st Div?