Rochford U12s vs. Basildon, 25th October 2009

Rochford were soon on the field again after a several minute break, but within seconds of the Basildon referee blowing his whistle to start the match, Basildon had run through a sleepy Rochford line to score an opening try. Fortunately, from the restart Lewis made the scores level, with a great try. (Jack converted).

With both sides struggling for possession, some good tackles were seen from Michael and Oliver. Also, Louis made great runs near the line, Ross weaved well in centre field, but as half time neared it was Lewis who grabbed a vital second try (Jack converted), giving Rochford a 14 – 5 lead at the break.

However, in what could have been a re- run of the first half, Basildon scored during the first few seconds of the second half, and with a conversion the lead was down to two points. William S made a good run down the line, and this was soon followed
by possibly the try of the day, when Jack caught a high ball on the half way line, and ran past several players to score (Louis converted).

Despite being in front Rochford were not impressive in scrums, and as in the first match were not winning the ball. There were too many instances of players seeming confused and ‘just looking at the ball on the ground’. Rochford were often defending on their own line, and Billy, Matthew, Michael, and Connor were all seen at times to assist in Rochford’s defence in denying Basildon any further points.

Jack made a great solo run to score his second try, (Lewis converted), and in the final few minutes Jack scored again, with another excellent effort, making it a well deserved hat trick of tries in this match. (Jack converted). Over the two matches areas where there was seen to be potential for improvement include more tackles being made by more members of the team. Also, the formation of the players in keeping their positions, at times, just did not look right, and this affected our ability to ‘play along the line’, as well as being able to contest the ball early on the ground.

We seemed to give away lots of ‘knock-ons’ today, and the level of catching could have been better. ALERTNESS AND AWARENESS!! were not our strong points, and the ‘early ball’ from the line/penalties/ restart caught us napping on several occasions, leading to tries being conceded. Looking at our kicking tactics, sometimes we were plain ‘off target’, and sometimes the effects of the following/head wind and the Rochford slope seemed to catch us out, with possession being wasted.

However, given the disadvantage of having opposing referees, and having to play ‘back to back’ matches, the lads showed a lot of energy, spirit, and discipline as a unit, and apart from a few blips showed good battling qualities in defending their line. There were some excellent individual performances, and overall a lot to be optimistic about as we look forward to our next match in November.