ROCHFORD THROW IT AWAY AT THE DEATH

This was always going to be a very hard game for Rochford and so it turned out to be but they should have won this battle and Campion must feel “over the moon “after their extremely late comeback to come away with this result.

The visitors are a good, strong and fast running outfit which was evident from the start and they went quickly ahead with a penalty kick.

Stand-off Adam Ashton levelled the scores with one of his own but Campion pressure told when they broke through to score a converted try and that’s how it stayed until half time.

Rochford did not have that usual dominance up front in the set scrums as Campion continually applied power and it was often only number 8 Ross Murphy and Brett Smith tidying up plenty of loose ball that allowed Rochford to launch their attacks.

During the first period both teams cancelled each other out through excellent defence work although Rochford were guilty on a number of occasions of tackling too high and allowing the strong Campion runners to make ground.

The second half was much better for the home side as they increased the tempo of their game and put pressure on their opponents who did well to keep the boys in black out

Another disappointing aspect of Rochford’s game on the day was their lineout where Campion had the better of the possession.

Nonetheless the home team kept forcing the play and after some messy loose rucks and mauls near the Campion line leading try scorer scrum half Brett Smith, once again, did what he is so good at doing and dived over to score a try which Ashton duly converted to level the score 10 apiece.

This energised Rochford and they kept forcing the play which eventually paid off when Campion were penalised for an offence and Ashton kicked the penalty to put his team in the lead for the first time.

The rest of the half was a no thrills struggle with Rochford and Campion fighting it out and many big tackles going in from the likes of Stemp, Stewart and Jon Baker in the backs and Knowles, Corbet, Chivers, Murphy, Warner, Mark and Wiseman making important yards.

This tight match then went into the last ten minutes when Campion lost a player through a yellow card and a little later lost another being sent off.

Down to 13 men the visitors were really up against it but Rochford contrived to make it easier for them, giving away a couple of penalties.

One Campion player returned during the last three minutes but they were still down to 14 men and even after their kicker missed two line kicks for touch near the Rochford line which drifted over into the dead ball area and resulted in scrums back in favour of the home team they just could not clear their line.

The game went into extra time but Campion still managed to win another penalty. This time their kicker did find a good touch and the resultant lineout saw them secure possession and drive for the Rochford line.

It just seemed inevitable that they would score and so they did and converted the try as well just to rub salt into the wound.

With only a minute of stoppage time left Rochford raced up the field and launch one, last desperate attack, in the visitors twenty metres area and if only they could have kept possession there was a chance.

The outcome was a turn over ball to Campion which they gladly took and booted the ball far away into the crowd and the referee blow his final whistle.

Sickening is the only word to describe the general feeling but the team have only themselves to blame as they should have closed the game down in those final important minutes and victory would have been theirs.