ROCHFORD PUT PREVIOUS WEEK TROUNCING BEHIND THEM

It was always going to be very difficult for Rochford to pick them selves up after the beating they took against Bury last week ,especially facing one of the league’s top dogs but they did and in style.

On a hot, sunny afternoon with a large crowd of supporters Rochford played some excellent rugby and gave their more illustrious rivals a scare with the result in the balance until the final moments.

It was a combination of a lack of self belief and basic errors by the home team that allowed Colchester to take a 19 point lead in the first quarter as their fast,flowing play produced three tries ,two of which were converted.

Rochford, at last, decided that enough was enough and started to put together some exciting rugby themselves to put pressure on this talented Colchester outfit.

The lose of no.8 James Needham through injury did not help but replacement Jake Knowles,as always, stepped up to the mark .

The injection of fire and commitment paid dividends when wing Sam Barnes stormed over for an unconverted try.soon after the other wing, the impressive Laurie Scaniglia-Cooke outpaced the opposition to score a terrific try which Robert Prior converted.

At 12 -19 it was now “game on “ but the visitors responded with a try by their big no.8 duly converted which brought an exciting first half to an end.

Rochford came out for the second session with a new found confidence and immediately reduced the arrears with a penalty from Prior who then went and scored a try to bring the score to 20 -26.

All aspects of the match were being keenly fought with Rochford holding up well against a bigger Colchester pack and lineouts were even.
The crucial part of the game was the loose and the home side seemed to get the advantage there as they put their bodies on the line and turned over ball.

Colchester are a quality side and when errors are made or space becomes available they use it to advantage. Another try by the North Essex outfit which was converted pulled them away again but Captain Matt Stewart broke through to score a great try which Darren Spencer converted to reduce the disadvantage to 27 – 33 and only one score separated the teams.

A nail biting last few minutes ensued where Rochford had their chances to win but in the end a breakaway by the Colchester second row who ran three quarters of the field to ground the ball under the posts finished off any ambition the home side had to win or gain a losing bonus point.

It was very disappointing after such a huge effort and impressive performance in the second half but it will give a large degree of confidence to the team who will be travelling to Letchworth next week for another tough match.