Upminster vs. Rochford U10, 20 February 2011

On a rather damp and dreary morning Rochford’s first impression of Upminster was how many players they had! And from our last visit to Upminster early on in the season, was worth forgetting.

With the above firmly put to the back of our minds, it was time to start and as normal, we started slowly and from the whistle Upminster broke through our sleepy defence for an early try.

As the early passages of play forced silly knock-ons and countless scrums, we struggled to cope with Upminster’s power and from this scored their second try.

Our mauling was good but too many players were getting drawn in and leaving us exposed and again from this Upminster’s third try was scored, even with some gallant attempts at tackling back. At half time the score was 15-0 to Upminster.

The half time team talk worked wonders, the second half started brightly, with good passages of play and pressure and importantly, positions.

With our improved organisation, it was James and Corey who set up a strong ruck, which enabled another pick up and darting run from Brandon to go over for Rochford’s first try. This was more like it!

From this moment on Rochford grew and played some great pressure rugby, forcing Upminster back toward their try line.

With all the pressure and influence on the game by Rochford, Upminster defended well, as Amber and James linked up well to try and break down Upminster’s defence, but to no avail.

A first half to forget, but the second half showed what a team we are and can be.