Woodford vs. Rochford U10s, 27th November 2011

11.13am kick off was followed by what was meant to be a ruck, where a Woodford player simply stepped in, picked the ball up unchallenged and ran clean through to score. 1-0.

Rochford applied pressure from the restart winning a penalty 5 yards from their try line. A simple move saw Ricky pass to Fraser who scored to make it 1-1 after only 3 minutes of play.

Woodford scored straight from the restart, the whole Rochford team seemed to hesitate and it was 2-1 after 4 minutes. Rochford came to life now with lots of pushing, shoving and ripping. Woodford somehow snatched another try to make it 3-1 but the Rochford players remained fully committed (if not in their positions!).

Rochford applied great pressure from the restart with Ben almost crashing through. Charlie collected the ball and ran on for what looked to be a great try.......but the whistle blew for some minor offence. The scrum which was 5 yards from their try line was followed by some great tussling and Henry managed to break out and bring the score back to 3-2 with the half almost over.

However, it was not over yet and Woodford almost scored straight from the kick off, with their player running down the middle of the pitch unchallenged towards our line until he was met by a Ricardo on our try line! (Heroic tackle). We made a stand, fought hard and almost got away with it by some lovely passing involving Lawrence, Fraser and Declan. With our players still recovering on the other side of the pitch from that try line scrap, Woodford outnumbered us and stole the ball for a try 4-2.

Second Half

We were hitting our stride now. Great pressure was applied from the start. Charlie almost made their try line but they somehow held on with Haidyn, Ben, Charlie and Lawrence providing the fire- power. All Woodford could do was put the ball and our players into touch and two line outs and then a scrum were played out close to the Woodford try line.

Woodford made a break, using their backs line to good effect and passed out wide only for Grace and Dominic to thwart their ball carrier with a 'clatter sandwich' manoeuvre.

Rochford won a scrum and Henry burst through to score making it 4-3. (It might have been Fraser , sorry, but there was a lot going on – come back Lee!)

Yet again Woodford scored straight from the kick off 5-3.
Yet again, again, Rochford scored straight from the kick off. There was excellent passing, including a nice one from Ricardo to Charlie, This created the usual pushing and shoving which allowed Fraser to break through to score 5-4.

The dying moments of the half were quite eventful.....Woodford scored again from open play to make it 6-4, Fraser tackled the referee (he got away with this 'low tackle' as he said it was an accident but 'Sir' had tears in his eyes) and Ben took a double whammy, ended up 'sun bathing' for a few minutes following an awkward scrum and a rough tackle.

It ended very evenly with plenty of commitment and tired legs starting to show on both sides. We got better as the game progressed and everyone played their part with guts and determination.