Harts Hit Top Form

Rochford Hundreds 2nd XV managed their best ever winning score line against an out of character Woodford side on what started as a dull and grey day at Magnolia Park. The Harts having rested the week before and welcoming back a few key players really out shone themselves in what was a very quick and entertaining game. By no means does the score line actually reflect the determination and guts the Woodford side showed who were causing problems in the loose and first up tackles were strong, however when Rochford managed to secure ball and get behind the strong defensive line Woodford just couldn’t find an answer to the hard running Rochford.

The scoring opened after some good work from the Rochford Eight in the tight managing to take the ball on into the Woodford twenty two and after some quick rucking, Captain Chipper managed to give good ball to fly half Head who showed no ring rust despite not playing since early October to step his opposite man evade a tackle and then crashed over the line, further quick scores then came from Matty White having an excellent game on the wing, as well as Goodliffe and Furnell two of which were converted by Chipper Rochford 24 - 0 Woodford. The rest of the half continued in much the same fashion with some aggressive and quick play from the Harts which was rewarded by further tries from Stemp a second from White and the first of his afternoon for Dorrington, with Chipper again adding another 2 conversions. Half Time Rochford 43 – 0 Woodford.

At halftime Coach McAlpine decided to make a number of changes to ensure everyone on the day got at least a half but this in no way slowed the Harts down. Straight from the kick off Rochford were full of confidence and running. A key to their game was the sheer pace the lads were playing at, which they kept up for the full 80 minutes, was just too much for Woodford. Also the handling and offloading game they have been working on was almost perfect on the day which led to another 7 second half tries coming from Cooke, Pickering, another brace for the outstanding Dorrington taking is total on the day to 3 (thanks for the jug), and a further 3 tries for Stemp taking his total for the day to 4 (still waiting for your jug though buddy). These tries were added to by Chipper with another 3 conversions taking his personal tally to 14 points for the day, final score Rochford 84 – 7 Woodford.

An outstanding performance on the whole which will be very much enjoyed this week, but the boys im sure won’t get too carried away with this win and they know there will be harder tests to come before the end of the season, starting next week as they travel to Colchester in what will be an excellent encounter. WELL DONE LADS