Away Win for the Harts

Rochford Hundred 2nd XV travelled away to Chelmsford for the next round of the Shepherd Neame Division 1 and managed to secure their first away win of season. It was a hard fought encounter that could easily of gone either way but the boys from Magnolia Road dug deep to grind out a good win to keep up the momentum following last week home win versus Romford.

Traffic issues, road works and delays were causing the whole squad issues with some of the team not able to get then until moments before kick off. But preparation work and the hard slog at training was paying dividends as Rochford managed to start much better than they had done in previous weeks.

Playing up the slope in the first half was always going to be a challenge but from the whistle some aggressive defence from the likes of the returning Chivers and Harts Skipper Warner sent the message to the big Chelmsford side that Rochford were up for the game.
Some persistent pressure on the Rochford defence resulted in a Penalty kick in front of the Rochford posts some 30 yards out which Chelmsford decided to kick and went into a well deserved lead, Chelmsford 3 – 0 Rochford.

Rochford rallied and turned their aggressive defence into some even more aggressive attack, from a scrum some 10 yards out Rochford applied pressure, attacking down the blind side Dolman managed to get his hands on the ball and broke through for an unconverted try which put the lads from Rochford in the lead, Chelmsford 3 – 5 Rochford.
Chelmsford weren’t about to lie down and hit back with a well worked try of their own to take back the lead which was shortly followed by another try through their backline this time converted to relieve the pressure on them, Chelmsford 15 – 5 Rochford. During this period Rochford lost their Captain Warner through a head injury and was replaced by Duboux who slipped into the unfamiliar role of playing at Eight.

The first half was end to end, Rochford hit back once more through some excellent open play with the likes of Hughes and Chivers powering through gaps Chelmsford were leaving, some excellent work on the Chelmsford line created a little gap for Watkins to peel of a ruck and crash over to get Rochford back on the score sheet, this time Head managed to judge the strong wind correctly and added the extras, Chelmsford 15 – 12 Rochford.

Another try for Rochford followed shortly after, some more excellent work by the pack in open play offloading beautifully allowed Bracknell to release to back line who showed some great hands in a well executed move to get the ball wide to Delicata who outpaced the covering defence to score in the corner and hand the lead back to Rochford, Chelmsford 15 – 17 Rochford. Watkins was unlucky not to score another after being fed a great ball from Head to see him clear over the line but the Referee brought it back as adjudged it to be a forward pass.

Chelmsford had the last word of the half though when again using the wind and slope to their favour put pressure on the defensively line once again and managed to sneak round the outside of the cover defence for another well worked try and to finish the half.

Half time Chelmsford 20 – 17 Rochford

Despite the deficit Rochford knew they were now in control, slope and wind in their favour Head and Bracknell were kicking deep into the Chelmsford half and piling on the pressure. This eventually told with Hill managing to get the ball out wide and used every inch of space to get down and over the line to put the Harts into the lead again, Chelmsford 20 – 22 Rochford.
The rest of the half despite being played at a high intensity managed to see both sides defences working tirelessly to ensure no more scores, the only points coming from the boot of Dolman through a Penalty to extend the lead, Chelmsford 20 – 25 Rochford.

Stout defence and excellent work in open play saw the Harts finish the game as winners, and to record their first away win of season, lots to build on and a well deserved win in an excellent encounter.
Man of Match this week goes to the returning Chivers, solid in the set piece, aggressive in defence and powerful in attack, a welcome return.