A Big Finish

The late withdrawals of Corey Lazell and Callum Blackman due to illness and injury left Gareth a little short of cover for this must win league game against Stanford. Unfortunately for Stanford, they arrived with only 14 players but elected to play the game as scheduled rather than concede the tie. Rochford know how much guts and effort that takes after their trip to Brentwood only a couple of weeks before.

The front row started with Jack Stickings at tight-head prop, Joe Mitchell at hooker and James Mowle at loose-head. Jack Cahil and Jack Murphy started in the second row, Reese Garstin at openside flanker with Daniel Harvey at blindside and James Cowland at number 8. Liam Baker began at scrum-half, Louis Croll at fly-half, Reiss Sellwood started at inside centre and Henry Willis at outside with Aaron Cocks and Jacob Wright on the wings. Tom Harris completed the side at full-back.

With Stanford only having 7 in the scrum, Dan Harvey dropped into the backs to even up the packs. From the kick off Rochford began to look for weaknesses in the Stanford defence with Jack Cahill and Jack Stickings beginning to push through the middle but the early forays were repelled by the Stanford defence. Eventually the pressure took its toll on the defence and Jack Stickings burst through to score under the posts. Tom Harris added the conversion. From the restart Rochford began to apply the pressure again, this time seeking a weakness in the defence down the left with a series of phases that eventually saw Aaron Cocks break a couple of tackles and make it over the line. Tom Harris added the extra two points.

Sensing that they could break the Stanford defence with sheer power alone, Jack Cahill, James Mowle and Jack Murphy began to batter the defence but to their credit they resisted their attempts to a great extent. Only Jack Stickings managed to break the line to score his second.

It was time for a little more finesse.

One thing we do know is that we have our own version of Shaun Goater (one for the teenagers there). On the terraces at Maine Road they used to chant “feed the goat and he will score”, well we have Jacob Wright. If the boys feed him the ball, he does. Up to this point Jacob had been little more than a spectator with the forwards battering down the middle or the ball going left at every opportunity despite an obvious overlap on the right.

Then Liam Baker took the game by the scruff of the next and began to open it up. The ball began to go right and Louis Croll bought Reiss Sellwood and Henry Willis at centre into the game and they began to find Jacob, taking the ball at speed. After only a couple of phases Jacob beat the defenders for pace on the outside to score his first which Tom Harris successfully converted.

Again Rochford went on the offensive using the space more effectively to open up the Stanford defence. The unrelenting recycling of the ball through the phases saw the attack carve through the defence for Jack Stickings to score his third. Tom Harris again secured the extra points. At this point Gareth began to shuffle his pack with Sean Honey replacing Jack Murphy, Austen King came on for Jack Stickings and Joseph Cottam for Aaron Cocks.

The fresh legs added some impetuous to the Rochford attacks and made it so much harder for the Stanford defenders who had been working tirelessly. Again, the play began to open up on the left and a run inside Henry Willis from Jacob Wright altered the angle of the attack and allowed him to carve his way to the line for his second try and Rochford’s sixth. Joseph Cottam took on the kicking duties and successfully converted. Almost immediately from the restart Rochford attacked again and sent the ball out to the left for Jacob Wright to complete his hat-trick. Again Joseph Cottam was faultless with the kick.

Gareth shuffled his pack again with Jack Cahill, Louis Croll and James Cowland having a rest and Jack Murphy, Jack Stickings and Aaron Cocks returning to the field. With half-time approaching and a well-deserved break for the Stanford defenders Aaron Cocks carved open the defensive line to score his second of the game with the final action of the half.

Half-time – Rochford 52 Stanford 0

With Stanford bravely refusing to concede the game the second half began with Rochford looking to score more tries to add to the eight in the first. Given that Stanford had been battling with a player fewer they could have had an excuse for looking weaker but they continued to battle like Trojans.

Pressing again from the kick-off Rochford went through a series of phases, recycling the ball well and continuing to change the angle of attack and keep the defenders guessing. The boys moved the ball out to the right and an interchange of passes saw Rochford evade the Stanford defenders and set Jacob Wright free fifteen metres out to score his fourth of the game.

The boys were not finished yet and with admirable discipline continued to keep their shape and use all the pitch. Moving though the phases, and with much more anticipation than before, they were beginning to play like a more complete team. Getting to the rucks quicker, counter rucking with real venom and having the intelligence to take on a different role as the game evolved. The next phase of play saw ball work its way out to the left where Joseph Cottam made a break and picked out Aaron Cocks on the wing, joining the line from full-back, for him to complete his hat-trick.

On the attack yet again, Rochford found Henry Willis cutting inside from outside centre to leave the defence wrong footed and score his first of the game and the team’s eleventh. Joseph Cottam added the extra two points.

From the restart Stanford began to press and were quicker to the breakdown causing Rochford to concede a penalty for going off their feet in the ruck. A quickly taken tap saw the Stanford attacker bought down by a player who had not retreated the required distance and another penalty given. Stanford were now pressing into the Rochford twenty-two and unlike before, seemed unlikely to let Rochford rip it from them. Another penalty conceded at the ruck gave Stanford a few more metres and the failure to close down the attacker gave Stanford the chance to dive over the line to open their account. At this point the referee was asked to end the match which gave both teams the chance to leave the pitch on high.

Full time – Rochford 69 Stanford 5

It would been easy for Stanford to concede the game before the start or call the game at half-time once the score reached 50 or even let their heads drop, but to their credit they didn’t, and although the game finished early, they did get a well-deserved try. Rochford on the other hand could have let their discipline slip and began showboating once the score began to rack up but their kept their shape and continued to look for more points. Although the points were scored by just a few of the team and Stanford were a player short, this was no walkover. Stanford fought for every ball and the boys only scored the points they did by working as a team to exploit the gaps that opened up. This was very much a team performance.

With two players getting a hat-trick and one scoring four it normally wouldn’t be difficult to see where the Man of the Match award would go. But in this match it was the hardworking James Mowle for leading the forwards and Tom Harris for orchestrating the attacks who shared the honour.

Tries
Jack Stickings (3)
Jacob Wright (4)
Aaron Cocks (3)
Henry Willis

Conversions
Tom Harris (4)
Joseph Cottam (3)

1, James Mowle; 2, Joe Mitchell; 3, Jack Stickings; 4, Jack Cahill; 5, Jack Murphy; 6, Daniel Harvey ; 7, Reece Garstin; 8, James Cowland; 9, Liam Baker; 10, Louis Croll; 11, Aaron Cocks; 12, Reiss Sellwood; 13, Henry Willis; 14, Jacob Wright; 15, Tom Harris; 16, Sean Honey; 17, Austen King; 18, Joseph Cottam