Rochford Hundred move up to third after beating Basildon

The triumph was Rochford’s third in succession.

But their first team manager Graham Pratt was not completely satisfied.

“We came away with a win but it should have been a great deal more,” said Pratt.

“We were disappointing and we knew that we didn’t do ourselves justice.

“Both sides tended to cancel each other out for the most part and there were too many errors and poor play from both teams.

“I thought we actually dominated many aspects of play, including total control in the set scrum and we had the better of the line-outs.

“That meant we should have had this poor game put away long before the finish but it didn’t work out that way.”

In fact Basildon, who have now lost three games in a row, started strongly and went in front with an early try from their powerful back row Charlie Karby.

But it was apparent right from the start that Rochford’s scrum was going to give Basildon a torrid time and they used it to advantage to launch a number of attacking moves.

However, good Basildon defence and some Rochford errors prevented them from scoring until the pressure eventually paid off when number eight Ross Murphy touched down.

Tom Ashton added the conversion before Rochford extended their lead when another strong piece of play saw their forwards drive over the Basildon line and prop Michael Mark grounded the ball.

But that was as good as it got as the game became bogged down with too many infringements giving the busy referee plenty of opportunity to use his whistle.

What could and perhaps should have been an entertaining match with both sides willing to run the ball became a stop-start affair played, for the most part, in the centre of the field with little attacking positions.

In addition there was also plenty of niggle between the two teams and Rochford did not do themselves any favours by picking up a couple of yellow cards during the second half.

But the visitors were still able to hang on to their lead.