Basildon vs. Rochford U7s & U8s, 17 January 2010

Right from the whistle, team captain Louis had his troops organised and within the first few seconds Rochford took the lead from a great individual effort from Ricardo. Basildon restarted, but were held up by some strong defensive work which led to a turnover ball. A decent pass by Zach sent Ben sprinting up the left wing before dodging through the Basildon defence to score a great try. At this point Basildon managed to pull one back with some strong running that left the Rochford defence for dust but up stepped Finlay. A neat ball fed from Edward in Rochford’s own half led to Finlay cutting straight through the home side’s stunned defence and just as it looked like he might run out of steam, one final shimmy resulted in Finlay powering over the line with his first try for the club. Just as it was looking like a walkover, Rochford got a bit complacent, Basildon managed to pull a couple back with strong individual runs through a defence that had lost its formation and allowed too much space. However Rochford finished the half on top.

Steve reminded the players about the importance of passing, keeping a defensive line and pushing up to make Basildon fight for the pitch if they wanted it. Rochford did not disappoint. Basildon repeatedly tried to penetrate an organised Rochford defensive line but with little success. The pressure proved too much as many a time the ball was dropped granting the visitors the turnover ball. This improved defence coupled with neat passing from the whole team led to superb tries from Ricardo, Ben, Blake and Jamie. Basildon did not know what hit them.

An excellent performance from Rochford where the whole team contributed – well done.