Decimated Romford put in Great Show

Romford Hosted Maldon in a quickly re-arranged friendly - with 12 boys missing through either County Rugby or 7's Tournament it only left the hosts with a bare 16 players to field on a hard dusty surface ( considering 2 weeks ago it was waterlogged !!! )

Maldon kicked off and with Romford completely asleep the visitors ran in un-opposed in the 1st couple of minutes of the game - it soon got worse for the hosts as a mix up in midfield allowed Maldon to run in the second try of the morning within the opening 5 minutes - what could have looked like a hard day at the office soon began to turn around as Romford woke up and started to put some good phases together and started to make inroads into the opposition territory - with ideal playing conditions the ball was worked well by both sides through their forwards and back but it was the hosts that were next to score just before half time, with the forwards driving up field and drawing in the Maldon defence the ball went through the backs for winger Alex Walters to score under the posts and cut back the deficit to 7-12 at half time
The second half started with the slight breeze behind Romford and straight from the off threw the kitchen sink at Madon and within 5 minutes it paid off as Walters claimed his second to being the scores level - the majority of the 2nd half was played in or around the half way line and neither side would give an inch with some great rucking and tackling - just as it was looking to end in a draw Romford tried to run the ball from deep but Maldon gathered a loose ball and their winger managed to wriggle free to score under the posts and converted - this only left 1 minute to play and Romford kicked off straight away downfield and with Maldon allowing the ball to bounce failed to gather the restart and Walters pounced on the ball and set off down the touchline to score in the corner with the last play of the game = the conversion just went wide and Maldon claimed a narrow 2 point win

Scorers
Alex Walters 3

Conv - Cameron Petrie

Team - Stevens. Duffy, Broomfield, Rawlings, Fahy, Piercy, Stalabrass, Petrie, Donald, James, Medaglia, Tighe, Ford, Mclellan, Walters, Roberts