ANOTHER DISAPPOINTING DEFEAT FOR ROCHFORD

It is not that Rochford are not scoring points with 66 in three games and with ten tries under their belt but the fact that they have conceded 113 points that is the problem.

With so many first team players unavailable through injury or for other reasons it is difficult to get cohesion at present but the players that turned out on Saturday played their hearts out and through shear persistence managed to obtain a try bonus point against strong opposition.

Ipswich came out all guns blazing and scored a try within the first few minutes through their powerful and speedy backs.

It was apparent early on that Rochford had their work cut out for them as this Ipswich side meant business and had the players to run the ball wide and fast.

Great credit to the side that they took them on and gave as good as they got and on occasions with ball in hand looked like they could cause damage.

The trouble was that the Suffolk outfit controlled the ball too much and another try followed and then another, both converted to put them into a 19 point lead.

Gradually the home side put some good attacking play together and from some fine approach work centre Simon Ashton finished off by diving over to open Rochford’s account.

A late first half try by the visitors put them into a commanding lead of 24 – 5 at the break.

Rochford needed to impress themselves on the opposition in the second session but three further tries from Ipswich killed the match as far as a result was concerned.

It had been a bad tempered game with a number of flare ups and yellow cards shown to Ipswich during the second half but Rochford suffered a red card when Tom Corbet reacted to some over robust Ipswich play especially after he was the victim of a punch in the face in an earlier incident which went unpunished.

No excuses but rugby can be a funny old game sometimes.

The home side increased the tempo and with nothing to lose tore into the visitors and applied great pressure on the good Ipswich defence.

Rochford’s forwards although out gunned for size forced their way into the opposition twenty metre area and the impressive Matthew Bevan drove over to score.

This ignited the team to find that little extra and once again Bevan finished off a fine move to score.

With only a few precious minutes left to go for one more try to acquire that important try bonus point Rochford rallied and forced the play.

A melee of bodies near and the over the Ipswich try line finally saw Matthew Bevan ground the ball for his team to collect a consolation bonus point and his hat trick.

Captain Matthew Stewart add the extra two points and the game concluded on a high for the home team.

Although well beaten by a big, powerful Ipswich team Rochford could hold their heads up at the end knowing that they have the ability to put points on the board but need to work very hard at their organisation and defence if they want to progress in this league.

Some good performances from a number of players but the team needs to build up their confidence levels by putting a few wins on the board.