Basildon stand firm to defeat Woodford hosts (From Echo)

Basildon stand firm to defeat Woodford hosts

1:13pm Tuesday 24th January 2012 in Rugby Union

Basildon dug deep to see off Woodford 20-15 in a rearranged fixture.

Despite the blustery conditions the two evenly-matched sides produced an entertaining contest.

But it was Woodford who struck first with a third-minute penalty.

Basildon gradually worked their way into the game and, 10 minutes later from a strike against the head, the ball was eventually passed out to winger Zac Jones who sped over to score in the corner.

Winger Brad Johnson defied the fierce crosswind to convert from out wide.

Basildon continued to look dangerous and, after 24 minutes, Jones bagged his second try of the afternoon when he cleverly spun out of a tackle after initially appearing to have been held up over the line.

However, Woodford came back strongly and scored a very good try when their winger ran a superb line through most of the Basildon defence to score a converted try under the posts to cut Basildon’s lead to 12-10 at half-time.

Basildon started the second half brightly and scrum half Chippy White delivered a well weighted chip over the home defence for flying winger Brad Johnson to take on the full.

He kicked ahead and appeared to be impeded but it went unnoticed and Woodford were able to clear.

Both sides were now playing expansive, enterprising rugby but the scoring was limited to a Johnson penalty.

But Basildon’s five-point lead was looking increasingly fragile as the talented Woodford pack piled on the pressure with a series of driving mauls and five-metre scrums.

Eventually the ball was switched to the Woodford fly-half who crashed over out wide for a well deserved try to level the scores with 10 minutes to go.

It was Basildon’s turn to pressurise the home side’s defence and, from a Woodford clearance kick from behind their line, the ball came to White just outside the 22.

He calmly dummied to pass to James Meadows, who was calling loudly for the ball, and opened up a gap which he tore through to score the decisive try out wide.

Basildon then stood strong for a nerve-wracking final five minutes to ensure they stayed third in the London Two North East table.

Basildon: O'Mahoney, Johnson, Howard, Dieu de la Bellefontaine, Jones, Meadows, White, Stevens, Pehlivan, Baker, Creasey, Harman, Chandler, Green, Kemp.

Replacements: Clark, Chapman & Hickey.