COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP PLATE
ESSEX 13 LEICESTERSHIRE 22
In a change from their usual strip due to a clash of colours Essex finished their County Championship campaign without a win and bottom of their group as they went down 13-22 to Leicestershire at Barking Rugby Club on Saturday.
Essex were forced to make changes and their inabilty to work with a settled side over the three games has meant that once again the newest county in the RFU has been unable to make any real impression on the county scene. Leicestershire dictated play in the opening exchanges and should have taken the lead after four minutes when first of all the ball was dropped over the Essex line and then, when play was brought back for a penalty, Lord missed an easy chance for the visitors.
Instead it was Essex who took the lead after 13 minutes when a long kick put them in touch in the Leicestershire 22 and when the defending side sliced a touch kick the ball was worked back to Brentwood's Daniel Whitehead who slotted over a drop goal. The visitors were back on terms three minutes later when Lord this time found the target with a penalty and Essex were reduced to 14 men when Thurrock's Dave Stevens was yellow-carded for use of the boot as Essex began to apply pressure on the Leicestershire line.
Despite being a man down Essex enjoyed a good spell of pressure but failed to turn it into points before Coles, the Leicester centre, carved his way through from 30 yards for the first try of the game on the half hour, converted by Lord for a 10-3 lead to the visitors, which was how it stayed until the break. The visitors went further ahead six minutes into the second half with a break from scrum half McFredries who put Davey in for a try from 35 yards, but the next 25 minutes were a dour struggle with neither side really holding the upper hand.
With ten minutes remaining Leicester made it 22-3 with a try from Richmond before Essex hit back with two tries of their own.
First replacement Daniel Dieu-de-Bellefontaine from Basildon crossed under the posts, but Whitehead's conversion was charged down. Then in injury time Essex opted to run a penalty from in front of the Leicester posts and Thurrock's Darryl Worster sliced through the defence to make the score slightly more respectable.
It has been another disappointing County Championship for Essex and will once again raise questions over the future of the competition. Three weeks of county rugby at the end of a long hard season mean that the top names in the county are usually unavailable for this competition - a great shame as Essex, with all their big names available, could make a big impression.
Oh well, there's always next year!
With thanks to Martin Dutt for the Match report.
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