ASHTON’S SURE BOOT SECURES DRAW !

Two tries by James Needham and Matty Stewart made up the other points in a game spoilt by poor refereeing and in the end could have become a free for all due to frustration shown by both teams.

It was a great pity as the two antagonists wanted to play rugby and there was a contrast of style as Welwyn used their strong forwards to great effect and Rochford, when they obtained good ball showed what they could do in the backs.

Centre Ashton set the ball rolling with an early penalty and Welwyn responded with one of their own after a second attempt at it after Rochford moved before the original kick went wide.

Stand in captain Ashton once again put the visitors back into the lead with another fine penalty kick but the game started to get bogged down with a number of stoppages and infringements. It seemed that on occasions the whistle would never stop.

This disrupted Rochford’s flow as they tried in vain to run the ball wide where Matt Barber, Matt Stewart, Jack Hall and the rest of the backs looked as if they had the beating of the Welwyn backline.

The home side used their pack to advantage, driving mauls and set scrums and generally controlling the ball. The next two scores were tries through the forwards as, first one prop finished off a powerful drive over the line and then the other prop duly obliged with another driven effort. Thankfully neither tries were converted.

Rochford kept hammering away up front with good performances from Ross Murphy, Josh Berry and Scott Chives all showing fine touches. Second row Billy Ellis looks a promising prospect in the lineout and Tom Cornet worked tirelessly as usual.

Number eight James Needham clawed back points with a terrific individual effort as he broke away from a set scrum to outpace the opposition to the line. Ashton duly converted and honours were even 13 – 13 at the break.

The second half became a disjointed affair with many stoppages for bad discipline from both teams although Rochford seemed to receive the lion’s share of the blame which disrupted their rhythm more than Welwyn.

In fact the home side’s confidence grew and they were rewarded with two more unconverted tries through the use of the driving maul and general pressure play by the forwards. The Hertfordshire outfit were 23 – 13 ahead with a quarter of the game left and Rochford could see defeat facing them.

A big effort was required and the boys responded as they upped the tempo and started to apply pressure of their own with Stand off Ashton sending racking kicks down the field for his fast backs to chase.

At last it paid off and Rochford were awarded a penalty which Ashton slotted over to reduce the deficit to seven points. More Rochford pressure ensued and full back Mattie Stewart who was having a good all round game powered through to score a marvellous try and the conversion was put over for the visitors to be back on level terms.

Now Rochford realised that they had the chance of winning but time was running out and the game became fractious as Welwyn, who were now feeling slightly aggrieved by some refereeing decisions became a little over aggressive and fights started to break out. This resulted in a yellow card shown to a Rochford player and a red card to a Welwyn forward for head butting.

The best thing to happen was for the referee to blow the final whistle which he duly did and Rochford came away with a point which seemed unlikely earlier in the half ...and Welwyn feeling cheated of a win which they thought that they deserved.

There are a few things that the new coaching team of Mark Sexton and Andy Lipscombe have to address but one of the important ones must be team and individual discipline. This covers team ethos of putting aside assumed grievances over refereeing decisions and keeping the mouth shut.

They must also look at some of the basic decision making and not giving away so many unnecessary penalties as the incident under the posts in the first half showed. By attempting to rush the kicker who missed his kick anyway and forcing the referee to ask for the kick to be taken again and which the Welwyn kicker then put over on the second attempt. That in, retrospect, cost Rochford the game !

Team: Berry, Chivers, Wright, Murphy, Ellis, Baker A. Corbet, Needham J, Webb S, Ashton, Barber, Hall, Lemmon, Stubbs, Stewart, Dyer, Chipper, Baker J.