Westcliff B vs. Rochford U12s, 4 November 2012

Driving rain had waterlogged the main pitch and with the Westcliff A and B teams out training in the rain, the Rochford U12s stayed in the changing room while a pitch inspection as carried out.

By this time the Under 8s, 9s, 10s and 11s had seen sense and headed home without a ball being passed but the U12s cheered when it was announced that we would still play (I’m not sure their parents were as keen). As we headed out of the clubhouse the rain stopped and the sun appeared and we headed for the far pitch, which had drained nicely. Perfect rugby conditions.

We began with a match against Westcliff B and dominated the play with the Rochford defence improving greatly on last week with some thumping tackles from Jack Cahill, Spencer Crowhurst, Alfie Chatfield. The rucking was also better and with a little more care with foot placement we would have won more turnover ball and not kicked it back to Westcliff.
The team also began to use the width of the pitch more effectively with Callum Charalambous at scrum half and Ethan Hepton at fly half combining well to spread the ball out to Jacob Wright and Callum Stanley on the wing.
A momentary lapse in defence gave full back Daniel Harvey no chance against a 3 on 1 Westcliff overlap and they scored the opening try of the game, very much against the run of play. After a couple of runs that were cut short Callum Stanley took the ball on the right wing and with a couple of dummies and sidesteps made some space and used his pace to good effect. The first try of the season for the team and if they carry on working as hard as they are, it will be the first of many.

Full time – Westcliff B 5 Rochford 5