Another tough weekend for Chelmsford’s men and a first loss of the season for the female side the Bluebirds, but the veteran Undertakers are back on form, writes Annie Coulson.

East Anglian Daily Times: Chelmsford on the attack at Harwich. Picture: CONTRIBUTEDChelmsford on the attack at Harwich. Picture: CONTRIBUTED (Image: Archant)

The Bluebirds faced a strong Harwich & Dovercourt away on Sunday, bringing with them a squad of 22 players including a lot of newcomers.

Karen Corbett, Fiona Hering, Kristina Cowing and Elizabeth Laurie all made their debut rugby performances and Chelmsford’s points scorer, Sorcha Tarpey, made her debut performance for the Bluebirds.

There were several injuries and full-time was called at 66 minutes with the home side up 41-5 due to Chelmsford flanker, Katie Prior, suffering a serious back injury and being unable to leave the pitch until the paramedics arrived. The club wish her a speedy recovery.

The Blue Boys faced Harlow at home on Saturday and their struggle to field a team is clear. Each and every individual played well but it showed that they don’t consistently play together, leaving gaps in their defence which saw a fit and strong Harlow score try after try.

Harlow got off to a flying start, putting 12 points on the board inside 10 minutes but by half-time, Chelmsford led 20-17. The last 20 minutes of the first half saw the best rugby the Blue Boys have played this season.

Sid Hoult scored an excellent penalty from 40m, Jack Acorn scored a try with an offload from Hoult and Anthony Butt had an incredible breakaway, running the ball down the pitch from the Harlow five-metre line to score a try under the posts.

Acorn scored again in the second half but otherwise it was clear that Harlow were by far the fitter team. Tom Day showed off some beautiful ankle taps to bring down Harlow attackers who had broken through Chelmsford’s defensive line, but it proved to be fruitless as the score at full-time was 25-57.

Better results were seen from Chelmsford’s veteran team, the Undertakers, who won 32-12 away against Ongar RFC on Saturday. The under 16s won the Brentwood Festival “Golden Boot” on Sunday; the under 15s won 43-0 against Westcliff RFC and the under 14s enjoyed a good win against Stanford.