Essington played at home for their first league game of the season. We welcomed Wheaton Aston & Penkridge Rugby Club, who turned up with a young enthusiastic side.

Initial nerves on both sides saw loads of errors during the first ten minutes with Essington absorbing plenty of pressure from the visitors who seemed keen to attack at every opportunity. The patience of Essington paid off, after 12 minutes, direct from a penalty about 15 yards out, big Ben Richards crashed over. This seemed to make WAP more determined and they held out until the 25th minute when Andy Barker ran in a well executed try, this was followed by a try, run from over the half way line by Nick Brittain, followed by tries from Birty on 38 minutes and Kip on half time. This succession of scoring broke the opposition at the end of the first half.

Immediately in the second half further pressure was applied with a succession of tries from Fran (3), Coatsey (3)and Birty. Twelve tries were scored during the game. From these there were 9 conversions, 5 from Ali and 4 from Fran.

It should be noted that the variety of tries made it an exceptional afternoon. Close quarter efforts, along with line breaking tries, a try from half way, but also with one special try from a lineout. The defensive work was again exceptional, with the opposition failing to score.

Credit should be given to our opposition who contested well and made us work all game and to the
referee who made it an enjoyable afternoon.

Man of the match was Ali Cowmeadow well done!

Word from el

Thankyou for a great start to the season, you all stuck at it and produced a spectacle for the spectators to watch! Our commitment and enthusiasm and concentration continued throughout the game when it could of been quite easy to switch off!

Let\'s remember the positives from this game and take them into our next match against Whittington!

TRAINING PAYS make sure you are there Wednesday at between 7 and 7:15!