On a bitterly cold afternoon complete with a snow shower and a very soft pitch Rochford warmed the hearts of their supporters with an excellent performance. Scoring ten tries without reply the home side were dominant in all departments.

Braintree are having a poor season and the misery continued for them as the Rochford forwards out scrummaged them in set and loose play and totally controlled the lineouts where Sam Tape, Scott Horsburgh and Greg Whight dominated .

To their credit Braintree put up a spirited performance, particularly in the first half but were not allowed any room to impress themselves on the game.

An early try by towering captain Sam Tape from a driving maul set the tone for the match. Braintree had a chance to kick a penalty shortly after but the kick went wide and that was about the only time the visitors looked like scoring as the Rochford forward machine powered up and secured good ball in most phases.

Another try followed from wing Sam Edwards, who had an impressive game, and Adam Ashton duly converted to increase the lead.

From a further forward drive big Scott Horsburgh drove over and Ashton again kicked the extra two points.

Not to be outdone scrum half Brett Smith ran in for a fine individual effort under the posts, selling an outrageous dummy in the process .This gave the team an important try bonus point and with stand-off Ashton adding the extra two points Rochford turned round at the break 26 points to the good .

The weather deteriorated during this period and the teams started the second session in a snow storm but the points still kept coming.

First up was flanker Darren Spencer playing with his usual power crashed over for a converted try and shortly after a forward melee on the Braintree line saw bodies driving over the line and Sam Edwards touching down.

The conditions were now getting atrocious and ball was being won and lost on both sides as the wet and cold took their toll but Rochford still found the pace and skill to keep playing rugby.

Braintree tried so hard to stem the flow but as their defence floundered three tries from Matt Stewart who was enjoying himself in the centre and one from young wing Jack Baker finished off a successful afternoon’s rugby for Rochford and a return to form for the side.

They will need to keep that form going next weekend when they take the long trip up to Norwich.