Rochford U9s vs. South Woodham Ferrers

Some terrific tackling in the first min­ute led to a maul around the halfway line, and the ball being ripped from SWF hands. It swiftly found its way out to Jack Bloomer, who after a couple of neat sidesteps, found himself with the try line in his sights, and duly touched down in the corner. All the pressure was with Rochford, but SWF were making a game of it with some tough tackling of their own. Eventually though, Rochford went further ahead with a try from Chris Hastings, bursting through a number of tackles to force his way over the line. Then from a Rochford scrum, James Berry darted through a gap on the blind side to touch down and make it 3-0, just before half time.

The second half started with a period of pres­sure from SWF, but further great tackles from all of the team kept them out. The pressure of Rochford tackles and mauling forced SWF back, and then a stolen ball from a maul was fed to Chris Hastings, who raced through for his sec­ond try of the game.

SWF were determined to make a game of it, and a further period of pressure saw them score a consolation try. Rochford were not finished yet though, and some good work in a series of mauls led to the ball reaching Dominic Wells on the wing, who from inside his own half dodged round two opposition players, shrugged off a tackle, and touched down for the fifth and final Rochford try.

The two games were both good all round team performances, and it was so pleasing to see some of the work put in during training finally coming together so well. Still room for improve­ment on the rucks though, so next training will put a bit of focus on that.