Romford & Gidea Park vs. Rochford U9s, 15th November 2009

We lined up with only 8 players against a very large looking Romford side. It was obvious from the start that this would be a tough game, since Romford were playing a very good rucking game, which Rochford were finding hard to deal with. Rochford were tackling well, but the support wasn't always there, whereas Romford had players stepping over the ball and others following up to make sure they won any ball from a ruck, which they invariably did.

Rochford very quickly found themselves 3 down, but it was not all one way traffic. We had plenty of chances to score, but the determined Romford rucking frustrated us. Then Chris Hastings was given the ball in the midfield by Jack Bloomer, an excellent pass into space, and his trademark mazy run saw him touch down in the corner to pull one back.

Half time saw the teams turn round with Romford 4-1 up, and the second half was a very similar story. Rochford continued to tackle well, and were winning the mauls, but the support from Romford was such that they continued to score tries. An excellent try from James Berry, typical scrum half poaching from the back of a Romford scrum, pulled a try back, but the game finished with Romford winning 8-2. The Under 9s came off having given everything, with great effort and commitment right up to the final whistle, but beaten by a better organised team.