BACK TO WINNING WAYS

Rochford got back onto the winning trail on Saturday against an enterprising Sudbury side that wanted to play running rugby as much as Rochford did.

Playing on a wide,excellent pitch and in front of a good crowd at Sudbury’s new and impressive clubhouse both teams struggled to get the upper hand in the first quarter. Both sides tried to play the game at pace with the home outfit getting the lion’s share of the ball but basic errors made their efforts all a little frantic.

After absorbing a great deal of pressure and putting their excellent defence into gear it was the visitors that broke away after some quick and slick interplay to put strong centre Michael Stemp in for a try.

There was plenty of exciting play to please both sets of supporters with Sudbury showing fast reactions to breakdowns with the ball moving quickly through the hands.

Rochford’s tackling was ferocious with Stemp, Chipper,Ellis ,James Needham and others putting in big tackles.The precarious wind disrupted both sides but the advantage was more to the benefit of the Suffolk side. They eventually got their reward after forcing their way upfield and exploited a rare defensive error to put their wing in for a try.

Just on the stroke of half time Rochford struck back with a well taken penalty by stand off Tom Ashton to put them ahead again 8 – 5 at the break.

With the blowing wind in their favour in the second half Rochford went up a gear and stretched Sudbury with long ,raking kicks by Ashton to put his forwards into good ball winning positions .

The Essex team applied good pressure on the Sudbury line and George Chipper drove for the line.The ball was quickly recycled to Ashton who gave a lovely pass to impressive hooker Tom Corbet to power over for a fine try which Ashton duly converted .

At 15 -5 to the visitors it seemed that they would draw away but competitive Sudbury fought back and pulled back three points with a penalty.

Rochford’s set scrum which had struggled earlier in the game became stronger as the game went on which gave scrum half the chance to show off his attacking and disruptive skills to good advantage .The lineouts were a lottery with the wind playing tricks so the ball kept changing sides and errors and stoppages became the norm.

With a quarter of the match left Rochford again showed their attacking skills and wing Greg. Stubbs got his name on the score sheet with a well taken try.

The game was too frantic stuttering to be a very good game but it was an enjoyable affair with plenty of action in phases and there were a number of good individual performances but Rochford are still a little way from their best as a unit but they are on the path back after putting two hard encounters behind them since the new year.