Rochford’s U10s attended the Westcliff Festival this past Sunday, full of confidence after a cracking season so far. We were drawn against Billericay, Barking, Southend and Westcliff; all good teams in their own right.

First game was against Southend; Rochford came out the blocks firing on all cylinders putting Southend under huge amounts of pressure whenever they had the ball and forcing turnovers with some impressive rucking. It wasn’t long before the tries started to come as a reward. The pattern of the game continued throughout, despite impressive effort on Southend’s part. Every time Southend had the ball, Rochford’s hard defence halted them and, on many occasions, forced turnover ball and used impressive handling and hard running to score tries.

Second up came Westcliff. This game was a lot closer affair with both teams defending well. Rochford had to work hard for their tries in this one and despite some windy conditions put some lovely moves together. Westcliff drove hard and hit back with a nice try of their own, but again, Rochford’s determination to win the ball at every breakdown eventually broke Westcliff down. More powerful running and teamwork led to impressive tries from Rochford and they really looked to be hitting their stride.

Game Number 3 was against Billericay, who from what we had watched throughout the day were a quick little team with good footwork. Once again Rochford’s line speed in defence kept Billericay pinned down and, unable to release their quick players, it wasn’t long before pressure turned into points once more, with Rochford running in tries from all over the field. Particularly inspiring was Rochford’s desire to work hard for each other and put in big tackles where needed.

Our fourth and final game was against Barking. Barking were a big physical team with some powerful runners. Rochford were not intimidated one bit by the size and strength of Barking and, again, came out and made some big hits on a Barking side that were clearly used to bouncing off tackles. Well, Rochford were definitely not going to be bounced off anything and maintained their defensive shape. Once again, Rochford were turning the ball over in the rucks and the tries started to come. Rochford won this match on pure heart and bravery from every player on the pitch and impressive teamwork.

Over the course of the festival, Rochford U10’s scored 23 tries and conceded just 1!

The U10’s have gone from strength to strength this season and all their hard work is starting to pay off. I could not pick a player of the festival yesterday as every single member of team put in his or her performance of the season but a little personal highlight was Meg scoring her first try in contact; a well-deserved one too.

A big thank you to the parents for their continued support. Also, a big thank you to Sarah-Jane who has been an asset to the team this season. Finally, the biggest thank you is to the team for showing up every week and working hard. One very proud Coach!