Burnham on Crouch 6 Upper Clapton 36

The old warhorse Richard Jones put in a man of the match performance on Saturday to help Clapton to one of their best wins of the season so far!

Clapton travelled to Burnham with a their full complement of three-quarters but whilst the names of the forwards were all familiar, the positions the forward played in were not

Nicky Trevillion played second row along with Gardiner, Pablo Beccera played back row and was thrown up in the line out like a toy from his lifters, along with Garwood who had a superb game at number 8 and finally Jonesy, ever-present in the first team for the last 20 years. The front row was its normal powerhouse with Baldwin returning to the fold

Clapton started defending up the slope and against the wind, and what a wind it was, as Burnham were to discover in the second half

Clapton spent much of the first 15 in their half but sternly tackled everything Burnham threw at them, gradually Clapton’s game plan kicked in, hold onto the ball and drive around the fringes whilst releasing the backs to hit them through the middle

This led to huge amounts of hard yards from Reynolds and Tindall, not a half to pass out long ball

Burnham after one incursion realised they were not going to cross the line a accepted 3 points as their reward for 10 minutes of pressure (3-0)

Then the turning point of the game Roberts, more on him later, made a typically bullocking run shrugging off three tackles, pass to Tindall who timed his pass perfectly to Reynolds, for him to score wide of the posts, conversion was missed. Burnham shoulders dropped and apart from a further penalty by them Burnham Clapton turned around with only a (6-5) deficit

Clapton started the second half with a flourish after 2 minutes Ayres set up a great position in midfield the ball was released wide via Reynolds and Tindall, for Hack to score wide on the right. Thompson stepped up and kicked the conversion, no easy feat as the gale blew (6-12)

Two minutes later Tindall broke the line again, fed Thompson who scored under the posts, he then converted his own try (6-19)

Clapton now dominated Winkworth scoring on the left wing; Conversion was unsuccessful (6-24)

Reynolds scored a great try, once again fed by Tindall having one of his best games of the season, conversion floated wide (6-29)

The final try epitomised Captain Garwood’s season he picked up from the base of a scrum fed to Hack supported by Tom Roberts who passed to Garwood, how did he get there? For Garwood to score, a great conversion by Thompson (6-36)

The scoring was over but 20 minutes of the game remained, Burnham to their absolute credit kept coming back, Clapton made replacements to ensure Burnham didn’t cross Clapton’s line, Danny Stav his league debut and Cameron Furlong in the centre

Roberts unfortunately was sin binned for trying to knock their second rows scrum cap off, maybe his failure to score for the first time in many game was the cause of this

However the next side we play he may wish to make them suffer, as he not only failed to score, but the match against Ilford was misreported, he only scored two tries; the other belonged to Thompsons, who winged like a girl at this reporter to set the record straight, it’s done.

A great win Jonesy man of the match, you could have chosen one of fifteen on this day. Well done to every player

So Clapton move towards a successful season, still four games to go and 15 points ahead at the top of the league, next Saturday the 12th they play May & Baker, away in a rearranged fixture.

This is followed on the 19th by a home game against Phantoms

Please put a note in you diary for the 19th this could be a good day for this team if they keep up the hard work and win at May & Baker.

PS Guest journalist LINO was seen at the game and has agreed to get his toffees out before the end of the season