Clacton v Epping & Upper Clapton (preseason friendly)

The time had finally come to see if the preseason fitness and match prep sessions had provided the foundation needed to begin the clubs journey through the 2014-2015 season for both the 1st & 2nd XV’s. A combined squad of 26 senior players made the trip to the first of our preseason warm-up games against our kind hosts for the day Clacton RFC.
Early signs of what was to come became apparent with the ‘buzz’ amongst the players, this was clearly not going to be treated as friendly !!

From the initial kick off Clacton made it very clear that they fully intended to make life as difficult as possible for EUCRFC, sustained and continual pressure from everyone one of the men in claret and blue, tested the new team formation to its limit for a period of about 20 minutes, with EUC finding it difficult to break out of their own half, this said the new defence strategy held strong and resolute to deny the Clacton lads any points.

In order to maximise the opportunity to try new and untested pairings, Clacton had kindly agreed to play the match over 3 x 30 minute games, enabling both teams to mix and match new and more established squad members in preparation for the season ahead.

As mentioned above the initial 20 minutes was a baptism of fire for the as yet untested EUC line-up. However for the final 10 minutes of this game the plays and moves practiced over the past 2 months began to prove to the lads that patience, perseverance and a 15 man approach to the game would provide the opportunities to make ground and ultimately the reward of points.

The remaining games continued to provide excellent opportunities for all players to show the coaching staff what they are capable of as individuals and also as team players, with some fantastic personal contributions, I’m not going to single out players for praise as this really was a team effort that proved that the combined squad will hopefully have an exciting and rewarding season ahead of them.

The final score was an extremely hard fought 12-46 to the men in red and white, well done lads, great start to the season, and hopefully enough confirmation that we have the talent, passion and structure to meet the league program head on.
Finally we would like to record a huge thank you to the players, management team and match officials at Clacton RFC for facilitating the fixture and also the post-match hospitality, however we appear to have ‘inherited’ a few Clacton players who joined our lads on the coach back to Epping for some light refreshments and an evening of party games. EUC management team assume all Clacton lads are now safety back on home turf !!!!