Rochford vs Eton Manor

On a blustery December morning, we made the long trek to Wanstead to play Eton Manor and arrived with a squad of 20 (Barnaby was to join us at half time after some traffic issues).

Rochford kicked off and pressed Eton Manor through strong runs from Christian, Kyle and Scott but were unable to break through and then the momentum swung to Eton and they managed to take the lead. Then from a quickly taken set piece, Eton managed to double their lead.

Rochford kept attacking with Billy, Harrison and Daniel making good in-roads on the wing; Jack put some good kicks over the top but we were still unable to breach the Eton Manor defence and then Eton extended their lead to 5-0 at half time.

Rochford rolled on the subs bench, which made an immediate impact via a strong run from Christian who scored in the corner. Shortly after a run from Ethan made some good possession, before a further gain from Max resulted in Connor powering through to bring the score to 2-5.

After another good drive from Max, Rochford reduced the deficit further through Kai and were threatening at every opportunity, but we were unable to add to our try total, though it was satisfying that Eton Manor rarely looked like adding to their first half try tally and when they did Rochfords’ resolute defending held them up.

I would say Eton Manor were the happier of the two teams at the final whistle but it was a well-played and fair game.

It was great to see so many boys contributing to the game and it would have been very difficult to pick a man of the match. I would however like to mention Kyle in only his second game did well and Ethan who was really unlucky not to score today.

Next week we have a friendly at Hertford to conclude 2018

Final score Eton manor 25 - Rochford 15

Tries

Christian, Connor and Kai