London 2 North: Stevenage 5 Chelmsford 27

PLAYING uphill in the first half Chelmsford lost Simon Hoult after ten minutes with a knee injury.

Stevenage used their big ball carriers from the start and this resulted in first blood to the home side with an unconverted try in midfield by their second row skipper.

Chelmsford responded in the 15th minute with a well-worked try by Paul Walsh following some crisp handling. Paul Smedley converted.

In the 27th minute there was some neat interplay between the busy scrum-half Luke Venn and the ever-present Chelmsford centre Rhys Mason. It looked at first as though a try had been scored. However a call of double movement from the referee resulted in the try not being awarded.

Chelmsford did receive some reward for this pressure when in the 33rd minute the Stevenage flanker was adjudged as being offside at the break down and Smedley stepped up to take the three points.

After 15 minutes of the second half, yet another penalty for offside was awarded but the Chelmsford kick went wide towards the touch line.

Some ill-judged handling by the Stevenage backs led to the ball going into touch.

The resultant Chelmsford line-out ball was won comfortably by skipper Simon Quinn, and quickly shipped out wide. After one phase of play and some deft footwork by Mason it resulted in a beautifully executed individual try. Smedley obliged with the conversion.

Chelmsford scored the final converted try of the game, Mason finishing a breathtaking move.