FITTING END TO A REMARKABLE SEASON

The champions finished their league season unbeaten and scoring maximum points for each game which must be some kind of record.

Head coach Michael Guess and all the squad are justifiably proud of their achievement and he with the rest of the coaching staff have moulded a number of talented players into a successful team who enjoy playing together and utilising their abilities in such a fine way.

They all know, however, that this is just the beginning of a hard and long journey to extend this development into something special.

Having said that this game was not a vintage Rochford performance as there were too many basic errors and their play was far too loose.

Conditions and venue were perfect as Harlow’s facilities and ground are first class and it was a day for running rugby.

Rochford started at a pace and after only 90 seconds scrum half Ricki Gould broke through and scored and Tom Ashton converted.

A few more minutes past and then outstanding wing Mitchell Bennett gathered deep in his own half and his powerful legs went into overdrive to leave the opposition standing to run threequarters of the pitch to dive over.

The visitors set scrum was, once again, dominant in spite of changes to the pack with front row players on the flank and others not available but young Calum Brackett, making his first team debut acquitted himself well in the second row and enjoyed a good game.

Harlow strived hard all afternoon to combat the power and speed of their opposition and did well in putting pressure on them and Rochford had to defend robustly on occasions.

In fact, the home side were the next to score when their hard work was rewarded with a try. This spurred them into greater effort but handling errors and some poor play let them down.

Although not at their best Rochford still had too much fire power and 4 more tries in the first session put them out of reach.

Impressive second row Luke Court-Rhind who had been winning good ball from all aspects of play and used his size and skill to cause trouble in Harlow’s defence scored a well taken try.

Ashton converted as he did three times more when that try scoring machine called Mark Billings scored a hattrick of tries before the break.

Harlow kept attacking and nearly scored a spectacular try when one of their players broke away deep in their own half and ran the length of the field.

It should have been a certain try accept that wing Mitch Bennett chased him all the way and just caught the Harlow man in a remarkable piece of rugby and which Bennett has done in previous games.

The home side did get their revenge, however, by going over for a converted try just before half time.

With a 40 – 12 lead Rochford were not going to be beaten and it was only a matter of time before more tries would come.

Harlow contested with resolve but could not cope with the pace as Rochford upped their game and, although, their play was loose and disjointed on occasions they still managed to go over four more times.

Two more tries for Bennett for his hattrick, one apiece from Sam Edwards and prop Craig Strachan, playing at flanker, and conversions from Ashton and Steven Jay (2) rounded off this remarkable league season.

Other players that worked well were Tom Pickering when he came on, Ben Johnson in the centre showed some of his power and talent.

In the pack Michael Guess showed the way with Craig Strachan and Lewis Brunger feisty in attack and the ever-present Court-Rhind causing chaos whenever he had the ball.

There was, of course full back Mark Billing bringing his tally of tries for the season to 40. Fantastic effort and well-done Mark.

A small matter of an Essex Cup Semi Final against old rivals Westcliff on Wednesday evening before a well-earned break to recharge batteries for the coming campaign ahead in September.