Holts welcomed Westcliff to Bridge on Sat. Having spent several years in level 5 Westcliff were relegated to level six at the end of last season, but this year are camped very firmly at the top of the league. Westcliff kicked off, Gill hoofed the ball back into Westcliff territory, back the ball came, Pete Medler caught and chipped the Westcliff defence, gathering his own chip, he offloaded to Tom Jackson who in turn offloaded to Tom Goose who sprinted over for a dream start for Holt. Gill converted.

2 mins: Holt 7 Westcliff 0

From the kickoff, Westcliff forced Holt but the Holt defence was equal to anything Westcliff tried holding the out with apparent ease and counter attacking when able. Westcliff had 2 penalties on the Holt 22 in quick succession and elected to go for the posts on both occasions but missed both. A thoroughly entertaining 30 mins with both teams attacking and happy to run the ball from anywhere despite the appalling weather conditions bought half time closer with Holt still hanging onto their slender lead. In the 39th minute Westcliff were awarded a penalty on half way, they kicked deep into Holts 22. The drove for the line Holt infringed, from the 5m penalty Westcliff tapped and crashed over to score. The conversion was good.

40min: Holt 7 Westcliff 7

The ref decided there was still time to play, Westcliff restarted with a penalty, the ref deciding that Holt had infringed as Westcliff scored, Westcliff surged forward and gained another penalty on the Holt 22. They successfully went for the posts.

47 mins: Holt 7 Westcliff 10

The second half continued as most of the first half had been played, total commitment to running attacking rugby from both sides, but unable to break down the oppositions defence and get a foot in front, until the 12th minute when Westcliff managed to break through using a combination of forwards and backs. The conversion missed.

12 mins: Holt 7 Westcliff 15

Again both teams threw everything at each other but the next score didn’t come until the 32nd min of the 2nd half when Westcliff were awarded a penalty on the Holt 22. They once more successfully went for the posts.

32 mins: Holt 7 Westcliff 18

Holt seemed rattled and immediately conceded another score when Westcliff spread the ball wide and fast from a scrum on halfway to score a try. The conversion was good.

35 mins: Holt 7 Westcliff 25

Holt woke up again and charged at Westcliff from the kick off, a Holt scrum on the Westcliff 10m line saw the ball stopped illegally, Medler put the ball into the corner, a catch and drive saw James Gosden crash over for a try, the conversion missed.

38 mins: Holt 12 Westcliff 25

Once more the ref decided there was still time to play. Westcliff kicked off and drove Holt backwards, but Holt held the out and attacked themselves, Jackson bursting through only to be bought down and penalised, Westcliff seized the opportunity and took a quick tap, ran the ball through the hands and went over for a late try. The conversion missed.

Final Score: Holt 12 Wanstead 28

Great entertainment once more in difficult conditions. Holt proving again that they are quite capable of living with the top teams at this level. A few missed opportunities, a few wrong decisions maybe, but nothing fundamentally wrong. Keep playing like this, with this level of commitment and the wins will come!

MOTM Congratulations to our moongazer man of the match, Pete Medler who had a great game all round performance both in attack and defence.

DOTD no body, all played well!