ROCHFORD Hundred suffered a 49-28 defeat at Harpenden.

The setback was Rochford's third in succession.

And Hundred's director of rugby Danny Cleare was again left to rue the long list of unavailable players against strong opposition.

"Harpenden had a decent pack and unfortunately we were missing a number of starting forwards and consequently gave away a lot of weight and experience," said Cleare.

"The game was won on their scrum dominance really as nearly every scrum was a penalty, so in wet conditions where there is a number of knock ons it wasn’t ideal.

"But take the scrum away and we were the much better team, but it did highlight how much importance and impact the scrum really has on a game."

However, Cleare was pleased to see his players giving their all.

"I can’t fault the effort of the forwards though because they gave it their all," said Cleare.

"We just came up against a very good outfit and more experienced pack and heavier pack on the day.

"With the ball we looked excellent at times and scored some good tries and made many line breaks.

"But our defence was again an issue and there were far too many missed tackles.

"This needs sorting otherwise we will struggle to pick up these much needed wins."

Rochford are now seventh in the Regional One South East standings.