The Royal Anglian regiment match against our 4ths in the annual fixture brought plenty of colour and supporters together with the Harts playing Brentwood 2nds in a tight fought game.

The icing on the cake, of course, was the 1st XV encounter against Amersham & Chiltern in the first league match of the season.

After such a good preseason build up with excellent results against top opposition expectations were high and we held our breath to see if this new look Rochford could continue this impressive form.

Well the answer was yes, they could and in real style as they totally outplayed Amersham who just could not match the power, skill and aggression of the boys in black.

From the start Rochford put down a marker that other sides in this league will have to match as they out scrummaged, out rucked, out jumped and out ran their opponents who found it difficult to put together any constructive play for a large part of this game.

Amersham were not a bad side as they have shown in their league matches last season, but they were hit hard early on and were not allowed to settle into any sort of game plan as they had to defend so much.

New signing Cameron Greenhall at stand off opened the scoring with a penalty kick and then wing Danny Cleare broke free to score a classy try which Greenhall converted.

Next up was centre Sonny Gay using his great power to burst over for another and Greenhall added the extra 2 points.

Rochford’s forwards showed their strength in the tight driving forward in most set pieces and giving the Amersham scrum half a torrid time and their power play forced the opposition back on their own line defending desperately.

Pressure told and the referee had no option but to award a penalty try to the home team and then two further tries by Cleare and Radzevicius, one of which was converted by Greenhall brought to an end the first half scoring but Rochford had to defend well to keep out their opponents just before half time,

Turning round 36 – 0 up at the break had taken the game away from the Buckinghamshire outfit but they fought hard all afternoon and did try to break down the Rochford defence but to no avail. Hundred not only have an exciting attack but their defensive work is second to none.

The flood gates opened in the second session as the visitors tired and six more tries followed, including another penalty try.

Fine efforts by new captain Harry Hudson, Michael Guess, Mark Ikhifa and another each for Gay and Radzevicius with 2 conversions from Greenhall and one from Gay finished the scoring.

A tremendous first game to get their league campaign under way with an eleven try bonanza and plenty of excellent performances from all players but still a great deal to work on before becoming the finished article.

A massive encounter next Saturday against local rivals Southend at Southend and that will something to see.