Rochford U11s vs. Thames, Westcliff Festival 11 April 2010

Last time we played Thames we won both matches fairly easily. It looked like we would run away with this one as well. Michael Shields got the first try after a good passage of passing play by Rochford. Thames managed to level the score after Rochford were penalised by the referee for some reason, which I can’t explain. Not to worry though as Stefan King got the next try for Rochford after Matt Dobson broke through the Thames defence.

The second half looked like we could run away with the match until a Thames boy got injured. As they had no spare under 11’s available the Thames coach asked if we would mind if one of their under 12’s came on as a substitute. Being British, this was quickly agreed upon and on came my forty year old brother (well he was as big as me) as their tight head prop. However, like me he turned out to be let’s say not the most mobile so not such an issue in broken play. Up until then our scrum wasn’t doing too bad but even with a jiggle around with Stefan King moved to the front row, we struggled due to the additional weight and size of the new arrival.

Thames managed to even the match and things were looking bad for our lads. However, when required to pull something out of the bag, Michael Shields was over to win us the game….thank God!