RED Rockets blasted their way through to national finals of the RFU 24 Sevens with an impressive showing at the regional final.

Playing at Saracens’ Allianz Park base Rockets made their way through to the final before losing to 24-12 to the Seventy7s.

But director of rugby Jack Kershaw remained delighted by his side’s displays.

“We went with two objectives, to win the tournament and qualify for the national finals and we got one out of two done,” said Kershaw, whose team are based in South Woodham.

“It was a great day and the RFU have really got behind sevens this year.

“It shows with the regional final being played on Saracens’ pitch.

“But now we push onto the national finals with the aim of winning another tournament and finishing off the season on a high before looking forward to 2017.”

The RED Rockets, who were coached by Sweyne Park School’s Tony Woods, started well by winning their opening fixture 35-5, thanks to some excellent play by forward Aeden Maloney and Sean Morris.

The Rockets then saw off the Honey Badgers 19-10 before beating National One side Esher 31-7.

The highlight of the victory saw Woodham’s Jack Reeve make a breakthrough before offloading to Maloney, who outpaced an opposition winger to score.

RED continued their fine form in the semi-final to beat another full-time team, Coventry, 21-20 in an exciting clash.

Coventry included current and ex internationals in their team who loved taking contact and disrupting the ruck at every possible opportunity.

However, some ill discipline from Coventry saw the Rockets winning 21-15 before the final play saw Coventry run into the corner to make it 21-20.

The wind played a huge part in the conversion being missed and saw the Rockets qualify for the national finals.

RED took the lead in the final but could not hold onto it as a day which started at 7am began to take its toll as they eventually lost 24-12.

But the Rockets remained upbeat and Reeve was happy to have helped his side reach the national final which will also be held at Allianz Park on Sunday, July 24.

“To qualify for the national finals of a tournament is a great achievement,” said Reeve, who is from South Woodham.

“Of course it was gutting to not win the tournament but we have put ourselves into a position where we can go again and prove just how good we are.

“We had a great day and a it’s great to see a video we made there has already got more than 2,500 views in 12 hours because it means people are taking notice.”