Chichester v East Grinstead

Pre-season carries on well

Chichester took on rising Sussex side and last yrs London 3 Champions East Grinstead away at Saints Hill on Saturday knowing that although the performance against Tottonians the week before had been good ;a significant step up in level would be required.
Chi started strongly with the front row of Decoteau , Lawrence and Veltom in particular going well , to create a good platform for the backs to work with , early ball was moved to Renwick who hitting a great line ran straight over his opposite number to go on a surging run , unfortunately a spilled ball lost the opportunity.
East Grinstead were resolute in defence and competed hard at the tackle area forcing a couple of early turnovers along with the blues conceding some soft penalties somewhat disrupting the initial domination.
However the lineout and scrum platform really had EG under pressure and some excellent runs from Adams and Kasujja had the home side scrambling eventually forcing a penalty almost infront of the posts. The chance was squandered but never the less Chi continued to take the game to the reds.
A series of powerful forward drives eventually gave Gray the opportunity to use his pace and power to muscle over for the first score from close range – the conversion was missed. 5-0
The blues upped the tempo with forwards and backs combining well to start to get beyond the resolute defence however as the home side were stretched Blount loomed out wide ;the big man timed his pass to perfection for number 8 Dickin to hit a fantastic line to score close to the posts with the 2 extras Chi now led 12-0.
Half time saw several changes in personnel as Chi looked to use its full squad , again the blues had the upper hand but the home side also making a few changes started to hit up hard using their kiwi 8 and 12 to gain some good front foot ball but the blue defence was solid.
However in a similar style to last week the blues transpired to gift EG a try with a miss hit kick rebounding straight into the opposition hands with the resulting 50m breakaway bringing the reds back to 12-7.
The back row of Johnson ,Lowe and Gray were getting through a mountain of work in the loose both in defence and attack to repel the strong attacks and launch the counters. Bromley-Martin smashed his opposite number back and the blues countered with style, the ever present Gray on hand to power over.19-7
Adams was attacking from everywhere and causing major problems for EG one sparkling run left the defenders trailing in his wake as he ghosted over for a terrific score.24-7 .
Hinajosa broke and chipped through closing in on the line he was cynically pulled back – but no penalty was the refs call. As is the way from potentially going 32-7 up the Reds countered moving the ball well ; Lowe got back to make the covering tackle but some poor defence behind gave the reds winger the outside space he ghosted through and with a well placed kick won the race to the line.The New Zealand fly half struck the conversion beautifully to bring the scores back to 24-14.
With Adams now at 10 and some fresh legs in the pack , notably Shopland and Decoteau in the front row Chi lifted the pace and with the extra intensity East Grinstead started to slip of their tackles.
Adams rounded of an excellent game with terrific run , quick ball put Renwick in space he powered forward Adams moving the ball at every opportunity to eventually give Golds a run down the right Golds another player to impress showed his strength and tenacity to ride the tackle and go over wide in the corner.
29-14.
As the game came to a close another sweeping move saw Toone put Tackson away in space as he hared for the line the whistle went for a forward pass and signalled the end of the match.
Moses Kasujja – Skipper
We needed to move up several gears from last week ; and in the main we did.East Grinstead are a good side and with the players they have to come into the front row im sure they will do really well in London 2.
Richard Isaac – Head Coach
We have looked at over 40 players in the last 2 weeks and with one or two others selection for our opening league game is going to be very difficult. Several players really put their hand up today in what overall was a good performance. We know next week will be a massive step up as Tonbridge Juddians pre-season form and the kind of investment they have made in their playing squad will certainly put them right up their as potential league favourites.

Please come along and lend your support for the huge challenge Chi face in their opening league match of the season against the all conquering Juddians. KO 3PM

Decoteau Lawrence Veltom Blount OCallaghan Gray Giddings Dickin Toone Hinajosa Grace Kasujja –capt Renwick Golds Adams – Shopland Davies Lowe Johnson C Johnson R Jackson Bromley-Martin Upton.