ROCHFORD SEE OFF NEAREST RIVALS

In a fraught and sometimes bad-tempered encounter Rochford overcame a determined and gritty Wanstead in a highly competitive match.

The score line did not truly reflect the nature of the game as the home side fought very hard to deny the more skilful Rochford outfit an easy win.

The first twenty minutes was all Rochford though as they attacked Wanstead and kept them pinned down in their half and were quickly rewarded with a Michael Guess try using his strength and know how to crash over and for Tom Ashton to convert.

More relentless pressure from the Rochford pack on the Wanstead line forced the blue and whites to give away penalties until the referee had no alternative but to award the visitors a penalty try. Under new regulations that was an automatic 7 points and Rochford were 14 points in front.

Another 7 points went on the board when captain Matt. Stewart finished off an excellent back move to speed over and for Ashton to do the honours.

It all looked too easy at this stage especially with the dominance that the Rochford pack had in the set piece where they drove their opponents back at every scrum.

Whether Wanstead increased the tempo of their game and changed tactics or Rochford relaxed a little it was hard to tell but the game started to become a great deal more fractious and competitive from there on in.

For their efforts Wanstead went over for a converted try after a period on the Rochford line. This resulted when Rochford won a scrummage near their try line and drove the home side back yards but the resulting clearance kick was charged down and Wanstead dived over to score.

A good conversion kick added an extra two points and Rochford turned around at the break 21-7 up.

The second half became a matter of Rochford having to soak up quite a bit of pressure from the home outfit as they used many ways of trying to upset the boys in black’s rhythm and to force errors in their game.

The match was not helped by a number of minor incidents on and off the ball and some blatant off side play which Rochford had to deal with but in the end, they took it and then gave it back.

The long-awaited bonus point try eventually came through powerful prop Craig Strachan who crashed through to score after good approach work from Kellard and for Ashton to convert.

The game was now well into the last quarter and having weathered the storm two quick tries from the excellent number eight James Kellard and the also impressive Matt Stewart both converted by Ashton gave the final score line the impression of a saunter.

Make no mistake Rochford had to work hard to get this result and will be the better for it. They knew they had been in a hard match but at the end of the day it was another bonus point win away from home against joint top of the table opposition.

Another satisfying team performance with some fine efforts from many players such as Stewart, Strachan, Guess, Kellard, Tom Corbet and others.

Next week an important National Cup match against Hammersmith and Fulham away to keep the momentum going.