Rochford 50 - 25

Date: Sun 7th Oct 2018

Time: 11:00am

Match Report

Sunday 7th October – Rochford u13s 50 Harlow u13s 25 – Friendly

Today we travelled to play Rochford for a friendly arranged on the exchange as South Woodham Ferrers were unable to field a team. We travelled without some late withdrawals, Callum Hewett who fell out of a tree on Friday, Joe Court was injured in a school match for Leventhorpe yesterday and Danny Billington who has been struck down by a sickness bug. This made a huge ten players from our training squad who were unavailable this week. This caused a big re-think in our approach and forced a few experiments we had been considering. From the outset we moved Montelle from full back to centre, Freddie Adams who we have been trying in a few positions to full back, Jamie Oliver and George Snowdon out onto the wing. All should be commended for their willingness and endeavour with their experiences in these new positions.

Once the game was underway it was clear that Rochford had some strong players when Harlow had the ball we looked dangerous, unfortunately we lost the ball at the break down or their big players were able to bust holes or run around the outside of us. This lead to Rochford scoring 6 tries in the first half, although this was littered with some good strong drives from Harlow.

Half time: 30-0 (6 tries to 0)

The second half as pre-arranged with Rochford, we wanted to make sure we had a competitive game, Rochford leant us two wingers so we could move George and Jamie back into our forwards and both teams re-organised making a number of changes.

It was a much closer match, we conceded first but then hit back with two tries, the first coming from the kick off not going 10 so it was our scrum on the half way line, a good scrum lead to a good couple of passed to Henry who appeared to have found a bit more speed in the last few weeks and he went around then outpaced the defence. The second came from some cracking forward play driving forward setting up a good ruck for us to pass wide to Montelle who stepped back inside and went over the line.

At this time the boys had their heads up and were keen to get onto the game, getting Henry into space appeared to be a team priority and although it was Rochford scored / we scored we managed to get Henry to score three more tries, (four in total for the game) where each time well-presented ball from the forwards lead to us finding Henry in space where he dominated.
Overall the second half was very competitive and we saw our players rise to the occasion, we saw players step into the gaps left in the side and perform with gusto, sometimes when your backs to the wall you find out what is deep inside, today we liked what we saw which ultimately lead to a very entertaining game.

Second half score: 20-25 (4 tries to 5)

Final score: 50-25 (10 tries to 5)

Tries: Henry Stovell (4), Montelle Levy
Referee: From Rochford
Man of the Match: Henry Stovell
Rochford’s MOM for Harlow: Montelle Levy, for being so strong in the tackle and ripping the ball from them.
Special mentions: Jacob Morgan for some powerful runs and dominating in the break down. Ed Lea for bossing our forwards and leading from the front. George Snowdon and Jamie Oliver playing out of position and doing their best for the team.

1st Half team
1. Jacob Morgan, 2. Archie Goodger, 3.Ed Lea, 4. Charlie Jacques, 5. Will Pite, 8. Corey Kelman, 9. Owen Eynon. 10. Tobie Westbrook, 11. George Snowdon, 12. Montelle Levy, 13. Henry Stovell (Captain), 14. Jamie Oliver, 15. Freddie Adams
2nd Half team
1. Corey Kelman (Sub Jacob Morgan), 2. Archie Goodger (Sub Jamie Oliver), 3. Ed Lea (Sub Corey Kelman), 4. George Snowdon (Sub Will Pite), 5. Mason Pagnet, 8. Jamie Oliver (Sub Corey Kellman), 9. Owen Eynon, 10. Tobie Westbrook, 11. Jack (Borrowed from Rochford), 12. Montelle Levy, 13. Henry Stovell (Captain), 14. Harry (Borrowed from Rochford), 15. Freddie Adams

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