The season’s campaign did not start well with the pre-season loss of Tom Ashton to Southend but the squad was still looking strong and head coach George Fouche looked forward to a successful challenge of the league.

Most of the previous season’s squad were available together with some new big young players such as Harry Brooker and Andrew Bevan adding their talents and Brett Smith from the Canvey club.

In spite of losing to eventual champions Chelmsford at home in the first game Rochford went on to win 10 out of the next 12 games up to Christmas. The only defeats were an extra time defeat to Norwich at home and a disappointing loss at Enfield Ignatians.

Despite losing Bevan to UNI and Brooker to an extended break in the Far East the pack had established themselves as a force to be reckoned with and their line out and driving mauls were a particular important feature of their play.

During this period the emergence of scrum half Brett Smith’s knack of try scoring from these situations added to the team’s success and good placing in the league table ,being in the top three during the run up to the Christmas break.

There were a number of good wins especially against Diss at home and a very close encounter with Campion away and the situation looked promising for the second session after the holiday.

It has to be said that chinks were appearing as numbers at training began to tail off and performances were patchy with some very skilful and exciting rugby but also a few average games as well.

It all started to go wrong with the first match in the New Year at Diss when the team took a heavy defeat against a fitter and better organised outfit.

In addition Rochford incurred long term injuries in that encounter to three influential players, Greg. White, Dan Needham and Scott Horsburgh which did not help their cause.

Other factors that came into play were the layoff due to cancelled matches and having to rearrange fixtures as well as Braintree having to withdraw from the league.

This effected Rochford’s league position but they were still in contention to finish in the first three or four as long as they could keep up the pressure.

Another crucial game, however, was lost at Norwich losing 0-5 in a dour game that really the side should have won by a margin.

In the 10 league games after Christmas the team only won 4 matches with heavy away defeats against Holt, Chelmsford and Saffron Walden which put paid to any aspirations of league success and ended in us finishing in sixth position.

A final loss to Campion in the Essex Cup Final at Barking seemed to sum up this season of under achievement for the team.

It was not all doom and gloom though as Rochford played some very good rugby to entertain us all and some fine wins but, unfortunately, there was no consistency even within games themselves when they did the good things but then let themselves down by ignoring the basics.

There were many fine individual performances and chances were given to a number of young, up and coming players such as Bradley Hughes, Liam Bass, Alex Harbrow, Josh Illingworth, Jack Clark, Jack Baker and Louie Marshall.

They all gave good account of themselves and we look forward to watching their progress next season.

In the ranks of the established players Michael Mark continued to maintain his high standard every game and and only missed one of all 25 matches.

Tom Corbet and Darren Spencer who both now fall into the mature section, especially Spencer, put their bodies on the line each time they played and can look back on doing more than their fair share.

Scott Chivers and Ricky Wiseman toiled long and hard in the front row both playing in over 20 matches.

Scott Horsburgh, until his head injury, was on form and was neck and neck with Smith in the try scoring stakes and finished with 10 tries. He also made a late comeback for the last few games.

Second Team captain Ross Murphy was asked to help the first team out in a number of games and performed with distinction. Jake Knowles played in 16 games and always performed at a high level.

Captain Sam Tape was a towering presence as usual in spite of some injury problems and was missed when not on the field.

Outside in the backs the centre partnership of Michael Stemp and Matt Stewart grew with each game and were an essential part of Rochford’s attacking force.

Stewart also found an extra weapon in developing his place kicking ability with success and ended third highest point’s scorer with 68 points.

On the wing another success story was Matthew White whose aggressive running always made him a danger to his opponents and can be pleased with his performances.

Adam Ashton had to alternate between full back and stand-off which he did well playing 22 games and was top points scorer with 120 points through the boot and tries. Well done Adam

We also welcomed back Gavin Tusini later in the season and he soon made his presence felt as a few opposition players can testify too.

Another player to make a late return to action was scrum half Dan Bracknell and it was good to see him again.

Sam Edwards was all action and credit to him for having to adapt his role in various positions in the back line.

Then we come to Brett Smith. He made the transition from Canvey to us this season and after a slow start became very influential with his aggression and try scoring ability playing in every game and going over the line 17 times to knock up 87 points and was awarded the Players Player of the Year Award. Prop Michael Marks picked up the Outstanding Player of the Season for his consistently good play and attitude and was an example to all.

Thank you to Adam Faherty for all his hard work behind the scenes and his assistance to me throughout a long and demanding season.

Another big thank you to John Branch who does such sterling work putting together broken bodies so they can go out and play each week if humanly possible. He has been doing this for so many years and has such respect in the club.

On behalf of the boys we, once again, thanks the large support we get but never take for granted and to Colin Wiseman and the rest of the club for their help.

We also wish Kevin Anderson a swift recovery as we miss his presence along the touchline.

Lastly thank you to Coach George Fouche who strived so hard throughout the whole season being there with the players at every training session and game. He did not achieve what he set out to do but it was not from the want of trying on his part.

He now moves on to new challenges and we all wish him well for the future.

For any that I have not mentioned I apologise but are thanked for their contributions and are well noted.

A new season and a new coach who will come in with new ideas and methods. All players in contention for first team places will need to ask themselves serious questions on what they want to achieve in the coming months ahead and how they will attain it.

Graham Pratt (1st XV Manager)