ELEVEN ON THE TROT AS ROCHFORD KEEP UP MOMENTUM

On a crisp and chilled afternoon Rochford warmed up a huge crowd with 12 try treat to finish off their home campaign before the Christmas break.

The home side outplayed and out skilled their much bigger opponents and, although, not a vintage performance there was plenty to savour with some outstanding individual displays to keep their supporters happy.

Most notable was full back Mark Billings who was at his imperial best scoring 4 tries and generally causing havoc whenever he got the ball. Another powerful game from Adam Ferrier with 3 tries and a sterling performance from Tom Pickering with 2 tries were the icing on the cake.

Rochford did not get it all their own way as Epping’s big and aggressive side showed that they were not going to be intimidated by their opponent’s excellent record and took the game to the boys in black.

It was noticeable, however, from the first set scrummage when Rochford drove the Upper Clapton eight back at a rate of knots that they too were up for the challenge.

An early try from captain Matt Stewart which he duly converted set the scene followed by a typical powerful run by Craig Strachan to get the touchdown and for Stewart to add the extra settled the home side down.

Flanker Ferrier was next up and Stewart was on hand to kick the conversion. Although Epping tried to force the pace and take the game to Rochford excellent defence work kept them out and quick counterattack where Billings was so instrumental brought
rapid results.

Two further tries from the inspirational full back were of the highest order and brought first half proceedings to a comfortable 31 – 0 lead at half time.

It is the measure of this team that they still did not feel that they were performing at their best as they had allowed Clapton to attack them through some poor tackling and loose play in the first session and they were determined to keep a clean slate.

Rochford continued to dominate the set pieces and loose where Luke Court-Rhind and Sam Fombo making a welcoming return after injury, were rampant closely followed by Strachan, Stuart Whatling, Tom Corbet and James Kellard.

It was, also, good to see scrum half Steven Jay back from injury and he soon got back into his stride again especially with Ricki Gould out through injury.

The second half was more of a fraught affair as Epping decided to become more aggressive and a number of niggling incidents broke up the rhythm of the game.

For a period of the half the home side took their eye off the game and became waylaid, but class told in the end.

Seven more tries scored mostly in the last quarter by Ferrier (2) Billings (2) Pickering (2) and Whatling but paid to any Epping revival .Clapton did score a try which was no consolation for them and a great disappointment for Rochford who so much wanted to keep a clean sheet for a third match.

A couple of injuries to prop Reece Levy and Marcus Spremulli are worrying but with a week off for all players to have time to recharge their batteries.

With two more away games to play against Norwich in a fortnight’s time and Chelmsford before Christmas Rochford cannot afford to relax just yet but it has been an outstanding first half of the season.