OLD BOYS BRING ROCHFORD’S CUP RUN TO AN END

Old Priorians turned out to be as good as Rochford feared and were good value for their victory.With two tries and two penalties to their credit in the first half the game was realistically beyond the Essex side’s reach but a stalwart performance in the second half ended on equal footing with two tries and a conversion apiece.

Using the wind in the first session Priorians attacked with vigour and soon went ahead with a penalty kick and a try and only stout defence and some breakdowns kept the fast flowing old boys from scoring more points until the final minutes when Rochford conceded a late try and penalty to turn round 16 – 0 down.

Old Priorians play an expansive game and move the ball through the hands at speed but it was their forwards who matched the might of the Rochford pack and forced them into errors and only excellent Rochford defence stopped the West London team from running away with it.

Even in the second half when all the elements were in the visitors favour the home team increased the pressure and forced Rochford to pull out all the stops but Rochford did launch some good attacks of their own, mainly through using the strength of their forward power, but again Priorians matched force with force and stole the ball off the boys in black on a number occasions.

A leg injury to influential stand-off Tom Ashton did not help Rochford’s cause but the team rose to that and later in the game applied good pressure and were rewarded with tries from flanker Greg Whight who crashed over for Matt Stewart to convert.

Shortly after the ever improving Ricky Wiseman reverting back to second row drove over in the corner for a well taken try.

A sterling effort although the team knew that they were beaten by the better team on the day and in spite of some dubious refereeing decisions had no complaints about the outcome and we wish the Old boys well in the competition.