A penalty kick from Simon Hoult two minutes from time sealed a dramatic 30-27 win for Chelmsford at home to Norwich.

The result put them top of the London Two North East League table with four wins out of four.

But Norwich will count themselves unlucky as they dominated the second half and turned round a 20-12 deficit at half time to lead 27-20 with seven minutes to go.

Chelmsford’s director of rugby, Eddie Gooby, was a relieved man after the game and said: “This was a game that had everything and featured two good sides. I would like to say that Norwich have improved as a team and they showed everyone why they were unbeaten.

“They threw everything at us and for large parts of the game they were the better team. We did not hit the levels that were expected of us today, but we are a very different team from last year and the players dug in at a very important time.”

Fly half Simon Hoult put Chelmsford ahead with a 30-metre kick but when Simon Quinn was yellow-carded, Norwich capitalised with two tries before Hoult scored another penalty to make it 12-6. Hoult scored a great solo try to put the hosts 13-12 ahead before a converted Tom Morrish try gave Chelmsford a 20-12 half-time lead. A penalty and a converted try put Norwich 22-20 ahead before they bagged a fourth try to make it 27-20.

Morrish got his second try, converted by Hoult, to level the scores before Hoult’s kick took his tally to 20 points and secured the win.

Chelmsford head to newly-promoted Campion on Saturday, with the hosts making a good start to the season.