ROCHFORD WEATHER THE STORM

Over the past two weeks Rochford have had to take on both their main rivals Colchester and North Walsham at the top of this league and came through both challenges with grit and determination.

On balance this was the harder game as the Norfolk outfit came to win and put Rochford under a great deal of pressure. For all the first half and into the second in was touch and go before the superior skill, fitness, power and pure character saw the home team win this vital game with another bonus point victory.

It was evident from the start that Walsham were up for it as they attacked hard and only strong Rochford defence kept them at bay. When the home side launched their own attacks, North Walsham responded with some strong tackling of their own and did not allow Rochford to get into any rhythm.

The deadlock was broken when wing “Bert “ Radzevious outpaced the opposition to race over for a try in the corner to put Rochford into a five-point lead. This score remained the same until half time as both sides fought it out for supremacy.

Rochford dominated the set scrum and had better control of the lineouts, but they turned over too much ball in loose play and were forced into basic errors by the aggressive Norfolk team.

An injury to stand off Tom Ashton did not help but Steven Jay came on and moved to that position to stabilise things.

The second half started with the visitors scoring a converted try to take the lead and the match became a very tense affair with both sides looking for the breaks. Gradually Rochford began to increase their power play through the set pieces and tightened up their loose play to exert pressure on the Walsham defence.

From this a series of rucks and driving mauls by the forwards resulted in hooker Adam Ferrier, who was having an excellent game, driving over to score and Jay kicked the extra two pints put Rochford ahead again 12 – 7.

Walsham responded with a well struck penalty to narrow the gap and it was nail biting time again.

The massive effort that North Walsham had put in began to take its toll as they tired and Rochford went up a gear using the power up front and clever kicking with some strong loose play.

From another series of rucks and mauls on the opposition line captain Harry Hudson crashed over to add a further five points to relieve the pressure.

The tide had turned, and Rochford now smelt victory and went all out to take the game away from their rivals and Adam Ferrier, once again, came up trumps with another excellent try and the bonus point. Steven Jay converted to take Hundred’s lead to 24 – 10 and with only a few minutes to go James Kellard went over for the fifth try and Rochford were home and dry.

This was a very stern test for the team and they showed their character, fitness and a high degree of skill to overcome this strong North Walsham outfit.

Massive performances in the forwards from all where Michael Guess, Adam Ferrier, Jodie Allen, Jamie Douglas, and Chris Shields led the way. In the backs the returning Rickie Gould was all action and Jay proved a steadying influence. Wing Mark Ikhifa had an outstanding game and Mark Billings caused Walsham some headaches with his darting runs.

Matt Stewart and Sam Nash tackled hard and Radzevious came through a testing match intact.

Another tremendous team performance and the boys can look forward to a week’s rest before travelling up to Luton in two weeks’ time.