2 TRY HORSBURGH SECURES BONUS POINT WIN FOR STUTTERING ROCHFORD

Rochford came away from their North Essex opponents with a bonus point win thanks to two tries by no.8 Scott Horsburgh to take their wins to 5 on the trot but that was really the only positive thing to say about this poor quality match.

With the amount of possession Rochford had they should have won the game comfortably but this was not the case at all especially as they started at a pace and should have gone at least one try up.

Braintree are always difficult to play at home as they have a habit of getting under Rochford’s skin and this they did once again and from absorbing enormous pressure the home side broke away to score a try under the post.

7 -0 up within a few minutes and then they broke free again to score another converted try to go up 14-0 after ten minutes.

Rochford seemed shell shocked which affected their game and their play became frantic and unconstructed with plenty of errors and some inept finishing.

Gradually Rochford pulled themselves together and good pressure told and from a scrum on the Braintree line scrum half Brett Smith went over for one of his trademark tries which Ashton duly converted.

Adam Ashton followed up with a well struck penalty kick to reduce the deficit to 10 – 14. As the half drew to a close acting captain Tom Corbet, making up for an earlier yellow card powered through to score a deserved try which Ashton, again, converted to put his team 17 -14 ahead.

Just when it started to look like they were settling down to finish the half ahead a silly offence was punished by a Braintree penalty to bring the sides level at the turnaround.

The second half continued in similar vain with some poor and error strewn rugby by both sides before Ashton slotted over another penalty to edge in front again.

The game needed a spark and up stepped big Scott Horsburgh who has a habit of scoring important tries and there he was once more to use his strength to finish off a good move after Rochford pressure .Adam Ashton put the conversion over and the visitors were ahead 27 – 17

Braintree reduce the gap with a penalty kick and managed to upset any rhythm Rochford managed to get going and the second half drifted along until late in the match .

At last a piece of good ,sensible, play from a lineout close to the Braintree line saw the ball thrown short to Ross Murphy who caught well and a forward drive towards the line allowed Horsburgh to control the ball in hand and crash over for a very good try to secure the bonus point.

After some more ill-disciplined play by Rochford the home side nearly scored a try before Ashton collected the ball and kicked it into touch as the final whistle blew much to the relief of the boys in black.

The pluses from the game were few but Rochford’s driving maul is a potent force which they showed to advantage on occasions and a good aggressive debut by young wing Mathew White showed plenty of promise.

All the squad work hard and are committed to their task and certain aspects of their game are good but it is to no avail unless there is a game plan to play to and structure to what they do.

Serious attention must be given to playing a more constructive game and master some basic skills as well as being more disciplined, cutting out the penalty count against them.

That said the team have moved up into joint second in the table only three points away from leaders Norwich and that should be a big incentive as Rochford take them on at home next week which will be a far bigger test for .