U11's Match Report

Sunday 11th October 2015

Romford & GP U11 vs Epping / Rochford U11

J.Roberts, F.McCloud, D.Wood (2), J.Gutteridge (2), T.Portelli, L.Walker, D.Metcalf, N.Moonie, M.Tranter (1), E.Taylor, C.Pearson.

A much tougher fixture faced our U11’s this week in the form of Epping and Rochford, two very capable sides that have always provided a fair and stern test. Both visiting teams were organised, keen and warming up before we had even finished marking the pitch, and it told when Epping started proceedings and Romford were caught cold. As often happens against this strong outfit, any hint of a missed tackle or hesitation in defence will result in a big territorial gain if not a try. This is not to say Romford didn’t tackle, there were a number of strong collisions and contests in the ruck area, but ultimately Epping were more aggressive, ran a lot harder when carrying the ball and showed greater desire. These qualities contributed to Romford making more handling errors and conceding more tries than they would normally expect, leaking 7 in total with only a late consolation try from Gutteridge to get them on the score-sheet. A deserved win by a very well organised team, and plenty for the home side to improve on before the two sides’ next meet.

In game two, Romford showed good character to put the opening match behind them, especially as Rochford are another side that have performed well against them in the past. Having been slow to start before, they had the advantage of 20 mins play already in their legs. With Portelli available for the second match, Wood re-joining after picking up a knock in the first and a few well-chosen words about the previous defeat still in their ears, some glimpses of last week’s good performance started to return. All the players started tackling lower and with more intent, they started hitting rucks rather than leaning on them and the whole pace and energy lifted. Rochford were strong and had some very skilled players, and they managed to breach the home defence on two occasions to score well deserved tries, but Romford managed to come out on top. With a pleasing team try finished off from close range by Tranter, another from distance for Gutteridge and a brace for Wood, the home side ran out 4-2 winners and restored some smiles to the coaches/parents faces, as well as their own. Tough to come back from a disappointing display initially, but showed great spirit to do so and for that the team can be proud