Semi-final victory

This was a full on semi final, sometimes tetchy, often brilliant but always interesting. With several last minute changes, the opening exchanges were scrappy. Witham were the first to mount an attack. When a penalty was awarded 10 metres out, max took it quickly to pass it to Darren Smith who on the charge. The Loughton defence could not stop him as he forced his way over. John Cox slotted the conversion to give a 7-0 start. From the restart, Loughton got into the Witham 22 and were looking to get on the scoreboard. But the Witham pack won the scrum. The ball went to Cox who chipped over the defence. Rob Bennett tore through to gather the ball and beat the full back on his way to an excellent try. Loughton were always a threat and managed to get themselves a try to keep in touch. Late in the half, another chip over from Cox saw Daz Chesson gather on the wing and race in to score. The visitors then used a couple of kicks to gain territory and score as the half finished with a 21-10 scoreline.
Loughton started the second half well, scoring 2 tries to take a 21-22 lead. Sam Holloway had made several breaks without luck but when Alex Beer fed him the ball he was not going to stop. However, Loughton responded with another try to re-take the lead. Witham attacked again only for the visitors to kick clear. Cox collected the ball and counter attacked. As the defence closed in, he sent a long pass to find Connor in space, who sprinted in. Loughton were tiring as both Bennett and Chesson scored their second tries of the game with Cox slotting his fifth conversion. A late consolation try for the visitors gave a final score of 45-30.
Witham 2nds will play in the final at Bancroft on Sat 30th March.