Thus it was with a little trepidation that the U9’s took the field for their game against Basildon - only the 3rd full game of contact they had played.
However, it was obvious from the start that Rochford were taking no prisoners, and a series of crunching tackles, particularly from Chris Hastings, stopped Basildon in their tracks, forcing them into errors and panicky moves. Most of the first half was played in the Basildon half of the pitch, but Rochford were not able to convert their chances, and it ended with no score.
The second half was more of the same. The big Basildon runners were being brought down by some textbook tackling, arms wrapped round legs so they could run no further, yet the Rochford players were all managing to make headway and shrug off tackles.
The breakthrough came a couple of minutes into the second half, when a break from Christopher Martin, followed by a driving maul and a pass out from James Berry, led to Chris Hastings opening the score. Rochford never really looked anything other than winners from then. Tackles continued to be made, throwing Basildon back and forcing them to lose ground. Eventually a loose pass was picked up, passed out to the wing , and there was Chris Hastings again to run through and score.
A terrific all round team performance in this game, never allowing Basildon a sniff of our try line.