2:00pm Tuesday 16th March 2010
Rochford Hundred were beaten 30-7 at Letchworth Garden City.
But it was not from the lack of endeavour or commitment that Rochford failed to win a poor quality match.
It was instead down to a lack of application and deliverance of a quality performance when it was needed most.
The first half was very even with both sides struggling to gain dominance and Rochford managed some aggressive tackling.
An early Letchworth penalty was the only score until late in the half when the Hertfordshire outfit breached the Rochford defence to score two quick tries.
Rochford’s scrum was holding firm under a great deal of pressure from the bigger Letchworth pack but the line-out was creaking.
Young scrum half Dan Bracknell, standing in for acting captain Simon Webb whose wife has just had a baby, worked well all afternoon and showed a great deal of promise.
As a result, the visitors came out with more purpose in the second half and promptly took the game to their opponents.
This was the best period of play from Rochford and they were rewarded with a well worked try as winger Greg Stubbs picked up a ball and stormed for the line.
He was eventually closed down but managed to slip a pass to the supporting Tom Ashton who finished off the move under the posts and converted the try to take the score to 13-7.
A Letchworth forward was yellow carded soon after and Rochford applied pressure on the home side’s line.
But Rochford failed to take advantage as errors and bad decision making affected their game.
Letchworth rallied and again took control of the ball through their forwards and Rochford became frustrated.
They tried very hard to increase the tempo but it was not their afternoon.
Three late tries by Letchworth, only one of which was converted, summed an unsatisfactory match for Rochford as the hosts took full advantage of their opponents’ errors and lack of awareness of unfolding situations around them.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/trade_directory/