BELOW PAR ROCHFORD EXTEND THEIR LEAD AT THE TOP !

There were some excellent individual moments and six good tries in a game that Rochford totally dominated against a rather poor bottom of the table side. Where coach Dean Cutting was disappointed was in general play and as a team Rochford blew hot and cold with periods of ill discipline and lack of killer instinct. Make no mistake they should have won by a great deal more and would not get away with this performance against better teams.
Norwich started strongly and applied pressure in the visitors half but Rochford soaked it up and responded with a well taken try by impressive prop Scott Chivers. Some time afterwards Tom Ashton, back in his centre position, scored a lovely try which he converted himself. He then had the audacity to score another quickly after which he again converted. In between these two tries Norwich managed to slot over a penalty and the scoreline at the break was 19 – 3 to Rochford.
Set scrum and lineout were working very efficiently where skipper Sam Tape made his presence felt on his return from injury. Norwich continued to disrupt Rochford’s game and there were times in the second half where the boys in black succumbed to the intimidation and gave away needless penalties and ground and the game became rather broken. Norwich kicked over another penalty and tried to take the game to their opponents but did not have enough firepower to create anything. Rochford on the other hand had plenty of ball and opportunity but failed to capitalised.
Eventually Rochford superior skills showed and three excellent tries were the result. The first finished off by winger Matt Stewart was a gem coming from speedy approach work and interpassing to see him dive over in the corner. The next was from a brilliant break by stand off Dan Needham who linked with Simon Webb. He drew the defence and slipped a perfect pass to supporting flanker Andy Baker who ran in under the posts. Ashton duly obliged with the conversion as he did again when full back Sam Barnes finished off another fine effort under the posts.
Late in the game Rochford allowed Norwich to save some face by scoring a try much to the joy of their loyal supporters.
Verdict: A good away win to keep them firmly at the top of the group, especially as Sudbury lost to Ignations, but not good enough by the standards that the team and coaches have set themselves and will need to put some hard work in before confronting Saffron Walden at home next week.

Team :- Chivers (Ansell), McMahon, Berry, Tape, Stephenson, Barker, (Stemp) Baker, Chipper, Webb (Forbes), Needham, Stewart, Spencer, Ashton, Stubbs, Barnes.