ISLANDERS RAIDED BY ROCHFORD ON HOME TURF

( REPORT BY GRAHAM PRATT )

Rochford achieved the double over Guernsey in this top of the table clash and nobody could really say that they did not deserve this victory. In fact the score line could have and, perhaps, should have been bigger considering the dominance they had, especially in the second half.
Guernsey have an excellent set up and the stands were packed to the rafters with large, vocal, supporters from both teams and many neutrals as well. It was a memorable occasion and the rugby was hard, committed and very competitive all game as would be expected with both sides fighting for top place.
The Islanders hit the ground running from the off and took the game to the Essex boys! For the next 30 minutes the home outfit threw everything at their opponents. Guernsey had the advantage of a strong wind behind them and had the majority of possession and, certainly territory but Rochford would not budge.
The boys in black just played magnificently with strong, controlled defence and just soaked up the continual pressure like a sponge. After most of the half was over all the home side showed was 3 points from an early penalty kick.
At last Rochford broke away from the yolk and started to exert pressure of their own with some hard, fast attacking play and just before the half time whistle blew they were rewarded with a try from big Mac Duaibe who drove over in the corner to ground the ball.
With the wind behind them now and 5 – 3 ahead Rochford took full advantage and right from the second half kick off, when a Guernsey player failed to catch the ball Rochford were on the attack.
From this they forced their way to the Guernsey line and that try scoring machine called Harry Hudson crashed over and Cameron Greenhall added the extra two points. Rochford then continued to keep Guernsey pinned in their half for the rest of the game until the final minutes.
The visitors actually went over to score on at least another three occasions, but each time fell foul of a technical offence but midway through the half they did manage to score. A welcome return of long injured Sonny Gay coming on as substitute was immediately rewarded when he sped over for a well taken try and Greenhall duly converted to take the score to 19 - 3 and Rochford were good value for it.
This pulsating match went into the final few minutes and Guernsey were now desperate to take something from this game and came back hard. Such was the intensity that Rochford picked up a couple of yellow cards and had to really knuckle down but virtually on full time Guernsey got their try to take the score to 19 – 8.
The referee indicated that there was still time left for the kick off again and the Islanders caught and ran back to attack the Rochford line and won a number of phases, until eventually after many minutes they broke through again to score and gain a losing bonus point.
The final whistle blew and although disappointed that the score line could have been more, the team knew they had won a very important victory and had played their hearts out.
Looking at the match as a whole; the Rochford set scrum became stronger as the game went on against a formidable outfit and some of the defensive tackling was nothing short of top class and so destructive that, sometimes, Guernsey did not know where to run. The line out was superb on the day where Fombo, Hudson, Duaibe and others were outstanding whereas the Islanders lineout was hit and miss. This played a big part in this win, as did the breakdown where ball was so keenly contested with the likes of Craig Strachan, Adam Ferrier, Mac, Chris Shields, Tod Bailey and James Kellard working so well.
At scrum half Ricki Gould kept the ball moving quickly and Cameron Greenhall made full use of the wind advantage in the second session. Chris Dudman put in some awesome tackles and Damien Brambley showed his pace when he had the chance. I could name every player as they were all heroes on the day and I am sure that they will celebrate well this remarkable performance against a quality outfit on their own home ground.

Team: Bailey, Ferrier A, Bevans-Royston, Shields, Fombo, Duaibe, Strachan, Kellard, Gould, Greenhall, Brambley, Hudson, Dudman, Ferrier W, Billings

Subs: Brunger, Arnott, Gay