Rochford U10s vs. Burnham, 24 October 2010.

The under 10s, depleted in numbers by illness and holidays, could only manage to field seven players, but in a strange case of synchronicity so could Burnham. After politely declining the offer of the loan of Basildon players, both sides decided that a sevens match would be ideal, with each team loaning players for the matches against Basildon.

It was important that the boys got off to a good start after the disappointment of the Upminster Festival and everyone watching was hoping the hard work in training and the homework set would pay off. Unfortunately no one told George from Burnham who took the pass from the start and made a mazy run through the heart of the Rochford defence to touch down.

Rochford rallied and with a titanic show of strength Chris Martin, refusing to be stopped by only four of the Burnham team, pushed over to touch down twice. Two further mazy runs and tries by James Berry gave us a momentum that the occasional attack by Burnham couldn’t stop.

Harry Bennett continued his fine work in the scrum and Ben Cannon began to dominate the line outs and use his strength to drive the ball forward. One such run saw him draw the defender and pop a perfect pass to Corey Lazell to score in the corner.

The whole team now seemed to step up and play as a team for the first time this season. Callum Hishon and James Mole (playing his first game) put in some excellent tackles. This hard work was rewarded when Callum broke away and scored Rochford’s sixth try.

The final score of 6-4 gave Rochford their first win of the season but it could so easily have been more. A little more awareness of the support from team mates and a willingness to pass could have seen more tries scored.