Clacton 2s v Aldeburgh
19th March – at Clacton
Result: Clacton 46 Aldeburgh 5
A tough game to finish with
In bright sunshine, Aldeburgh finished their league season against a tough, strong Clacton side who simply proved too powerful.
The game was characterised by the strong running of the Clacton players, in particular their No. 8 and one of their second row, resulting in several missed tackles by Aldeburgh (an uncommon sight this season) and a regular succession of tries.
The first came after ten minutes with a break round the blind side of a scrum. A similar try followed after another ten minutes. On the half hour mark, the Clacton backs began to move the ball wide, breaking tackles and maintaining continuity to score under the posts. They repeated their success a few minutes later before their big No 4 powered over just before half time. 31-0 at the interval.
Aldeburgh continued to scrap, holding Clacton out for the first period of the second half. However, injuries began to take their toll. With only one sub, the second injury left Aldeburgh at a numerical disadvantage for the rest of the game.
With Jed Gallant unavailable, Ed Robson played out of position at scrum half. Adam Hateley took on the fly half role with his usual commitment, fearless tackling and powerful running. While both gave it their all, it highlighted how much of a contribution the half back pairing of Jed and Ed has made to Aldeburgh’s play this season. When Ed was injured, Jon Hunt stood in at scrum half.
Despite the injuries, the Aldeburgh pack held its own, even pushing Clacton back in a scrum 5 metres out from which Jon picked up and powered over for Aldeburgh’s only try.
Spirited defence restricted Clacton to three tries in the second half, one by the big No 8 and two from flowing back moves.
A highlight of the game was the performance of Brandon Russell at centre in his second game for the club. Strong in both attack and defence, he will be an asset. Well done to Adam Hateley for recruiting so many good players this season.
Most of the players came back to the clubhouse for an enjoyable (apart from the result) evening watching the England v France match.