Away against Sudbury in the North East London Division 2

Woodham travelled to Sudbury on a wet and windy day to play a team above them in the league but with the confidence of two wins behind them.

Sudbury had the advantage of the strong wind behind them in the first half and Woodham knew that ball retention would be vital as kicking for position was impossible. Woodham started with numerous pick and drives to gain some territory but a penalty saw them pinned on their line. A Sudbury attack was halted by a good turn over from Jack Reeve and Woodham tried to clear their line. Woodham continued to run the ball but a knock on followed by a loose kick saw the ball land in the Sudbury’s winger hand and he strolled over the line for a converted try 7-0. Sudbury are a good team and giving them soft trys would make it a difficult afternoon. Sudbury continued on the attack and a centre switch saw some poor Woodham tackling and another soft try and the converted try made the score 14-0. Woodham now had their best spell in the game with a drive which went the length of the pitch and a final drive from captain Ryan Marshall saw Sudbury penalised on their line and a yellow card. Woodham looked to run the ball quickly but had to wait for treatment to Ryan Marshall, the skipper, which resulted in him leaving the pitch and not returning. Woodham now ran the ball and Lewis Gilbert crashed over the line and Jack converted to make the score 14-7. At this point Woodham were happy as half time approached. But this was to change as Sudbury mounted another attack and scored a converted try just as the the half time whistle was sounded. The score was now 21-7.

Woodham started the second half confident of overturning the score with the wind behind them. Sudbury had other ideas and began the second half with great pace and a length of the pitch try made the score 26-7. With a try either side of half time, the game went away from Woodham and even with the advantageous wind, could not put enough pressure on the Sudbury Line. Another try saw Sudbury getting a bonus point win. The final score was 31-7.

Sudbury are a good all round side especially the back line and were the better side on the day. Woodham appeared to put all their efforts into the first half defence and could not get into the second half even with the wind advantage. The reporter’s man of the match was Lewis Gilbert who put tackles in all over the pitch and made ground all through the match. Good performances from Joe Dukelow and Jack Reeve who put in 3 or 4 try saving tackles.

Reporter Barry Gittos.