Romford meet another Ford

Rochford hosted Romford for their third friendly game this season. It was touch and go as to whether the game would be played due to problems with a referee not being available; however Rochford came up trumps and managed to find one so at 11.25am Romford kicked off to Rochford.

Romford stepped on the throttle and began with some attacking play. They were dominating the pitch keeping the play in Rochford’s half but their defence was strong were not allowing Romford to reach the try line. Five minutes into the game Romford won a scrum and with quick hands the backs managed to get the ball to Oscar Brigden on the wing who in his usual powerful style broke through several of Rochford’s defenders to eventually be pushed out the side by two pairs of quick legs who were on pursuit. Romford continue with attacking play using the forwards to take the ball towards Rochford’s half but they were still unable to capitalise on their efforts due to Rochford’s quick moving defence.

Eventually Rochford moved the game into Romford’s half and with quick play from both sides errors were being made and soon Romford gave away a penalty resulting in a kick in front of the sticks, Rochford gained the first points of the match.

The game continued in the same quick way which forced Romford into making a few more errors resulting into another two penalty kicks in front of the sticks gaining Rochford more points ending at half time 9-0.

Rochford kicked to Romford at the beginning of the second half, a good strong kick that resulted in a knock on, with a scrum to Rochford, the forwards worked hard to try and win back the ball without joy but the ball was soon back in their possession with an excellent steal by forward Maxwell John who made every effort to break through the defence but to no avail and soon Rochford had the ball back in their possession.

A good kick by Rochford moved the game into Romford’s half so they had to work very hard with their defence some players making big tackling hits to defend the try line with James Sandon and Kudzai Sithole working hard. However all the hard work again forced errors and eventually resulted in another penalty being awarded to Rochford, a further 3 points to add to their tally.

Following a Romford line out which they won the ball was passed through quick hands to Kudzai Sithole who made the run towards the try line avoiding a couple of tackles only to be brought down on the 5 metre line, but a quick pop pass to Maxwell John resulted in the ball being placed over the try line in the corner to score the first one of the game for Romford. Unfortunately, this was not converted.

With Romford hungry for another try the game continued in Rochford’s half. They were showing promising strong play but Rochford continued to defend well. With players tiring and injuries creeping in, Rochford’s attacking play took the game into Romford’s half where they continued to defend until the final whistle went. The final score Rochford 12 Romford 5.

Overall an exciting morning with some good rugby being played which bodes well for the future with the lads upping their work rate. Many thanks to Rochford for an enjoyable match.

Squad: Ali, Anscomb, Avraam-Stephenson, Baker, Brigden, Corbert, Dickson, Dobson, Flower, Francis, Hill, John, Lindsey, O'Brien, Pritchard, Sandon J, Sandon T, Sithole, Smyth, Tarling (C), Williams