Southend rediscover that winning habit (From Echo)

Southend rediscover that winning habit

1:14pm Tuesday 24th January 2012 in Rugby Union By Chris Phillips

SOUTHEND roared back to winning ways with a 29-12 triumph over Hertford at Warners Bridge on Saturday.

The Seasiders went into the game having lost five of their previous six outings.

But they never looked like slipping up against Hertford and that pleased Southend’s head coach Andy Holloway.

“It was an improved performance and the difference was that we took the chances that came our way,” said Holloway.

“There were signs against Barnes and Worthing that things were clicking back into place and I think we learnt lessons from those defeats.

“We could have won by more as we had what seemed a perfectly good try disallowed in the first half and we became a bit impatient at times as well.

“But our scrum and line-out was very good and that stopped Hertford getting much of the ball.”

Southend took the lead in the 14th minute with a penalty from full-back Simon Hoult and the home side soon received a quick double boost when two Hertford players were sin-binned after they both interfered with play from an offside position.

The Seasiders took full advantage with tries from scrum half Sam Arnott and back row Alan Barker.

Hoult converted one of the efforts to make it 15-0 and, even when Hertford were back with 15 men, they remained on the back foot.

As a result, winger Mark Billings finished off a good move in fine style and the subsequent Hoult conversion made it 22-0 at half-time.

Southend were kicking against a strong wind in the second half. And the watching crowd wondered if Hertford would make a comeback – but it was not until the 56th minute that they made any inroads.

It came as the result of a break away by their winger Mike Allan and was against the run of play, but it got their juices flowing.

With Southend ringing the changes Hertford enjoyed their best period of the game and finally played some rugby in Southend’s half.

However, the Seasiders re-asserted themselves and forced Hertford back on the defensive.

Their pressure was rewarded with a fourth try and a bonus point as Chris Waring strode forward and touched down under the posts following sustained pressure from the pack.

There was still just enough time for Southend’s Daniel Johnson to get sin-binned and for Hertford to score their second try, courtesy of replacement fly half Robert McPherson-Smith who followed up with a successful conversion.

But this was Southend’s day and they will now be hoping to enjoy more consistent run of successful results, starting away at Launceston on Saturday.

Southend: Hoult, Freeman, Vaughan, Ashton, Billings, Burr, Arnott, Williams, Keenan, Guess, Waring, McClintock, Barker, Johnson, Van Der Molen.

Replacements: Irvine, Grier, Hudson, Jones & Cleare.