Rochford U10s vs. South Woodham Ferrers, 6 February 2011

South Woodham Ferrers arrived as a late addition to the fixture as Ilford could only field an under 8s side. Our thanks must go to them and Donna Hardie who stepped in to save the fixture.

To add to the luxury of a home match Rochford Under 10s hosted this fixture with a squad of thirteen (yes, four subs). Amber Popham, Tyler Scott and Brandon Smith all making their debuts.

Any concerns that anyone would have had about how the new players would cope with such a physically big side as South Woodham were soon put to rest. Straight from the kick off, Tyler made the first tackle of the day swiftly followed by the second from Amber.

Rochford, notorious for starting slowly, seemed to have overcome the handicap of giving the opposition a head start and a tight midfield battle commenced. Eventually it was South Woodham who scored first but through a fine move rather than due to Rochford still waking up. From the restart the ball was passed to Nicholas Campen, playing centre rather than his usual full-back, who then ran through the entire South Woodham line and touched down to equalise.

Amber looked completely unfazed by starting the match at scrum half. And with Tyler joining Christopher Martin at prop and Harry Bennett at hooker, the scrum was working well. James Berry and James Mowle contained the South Woodham attack through the middle, Brandon Smith and Jack Chandler holding their position well to stop attacks down the wings and Callum Hishon covering at full-back. Another good move from South Woodham saw them go ahead yet again. From the restart Rochford began to recycle the ball well with the ball eventually reaching Christopher Martin who, as usual refused to be stopped by any fewer than four South Woodham players, burst through three tackles to equalise. Half time 10-10.

Some changes for the second half saw Jack Chandler switch to scrum half, James Mowle and Corey Lazell playing as centre with Nicholas switching to full-back and Ben Cannon replacing Tyler in the scrum.

The match continued to be a midfield battle with both sides tackling well and attacking in numbers. Rochford’s rucking began to pay dividends and the team managed to retain the ball far better and recycle it to great effect. One such attack saw the ball passed to James Berry who managed to exploit half a gap and run through to put Rochford in the lead.

After South Woodham touched down to make the scores level for a third time the ball was scooped up by Nicholas who again showed such a turn of speed that the South Woodham defenders could only flap their arms at him as he passed them by. A second try for Nicholas.

Final Score: Rochford 20 South Woodham 15.