Braintree 'A' vs. Rochford U9s, Braintree Festival 18 April 2010

We knew that this would be a tough game having already played Braintree this season, and once again they showed what a well organized side they are. Good running and support for each other, good rucking and plenty of passing into space.

Rochford started very slowly. Our mauling and tackling were good, but rucking over was virtually non-existent, and we had too many players sucked into the breakdowns and thus leaving gaps that Braintree usually exploited. The first half ended with Rochford 0-3 down.

In the second half however, we managed to play some good attacking rugby, punching holes in the Braintree defence with good runs from Chris Martin and Jack Chandler. However, we never quite made the final pass, usually waiting until it was too late.

We did play better defensively, restricting Braintree to just one more try, but in the end were outplayed by a better team on the day.