Rochford U 15 Girls v Beckenham U 15 Girls
Rochford ran out comfortable winners against an inexperienced Beckenham side who were depleted through illness. Playing with the wind in their favour Rochford attacked from the kick off and dominated the territory in the early stages. An infringement gave Beckenham a scrum, but young hooker Faye Smale won the ball against the head and the ball was passed out to Bianca Bosdet who sprinted away for the opening score. Rochford continued to attack keeping the ball tight amongst the forwards and making ground with some good drives and mauls. Beckenham were penalised fro pulling down one of these mauls and from the quick tap penalty the ball was passed to Abbie Cook who outpaced the defence and score under the posts. Maddie Lockwood converted to make the score 12 – 0.
Rochford continued to dominate possession and more surging forward play before releasing the ball to Abbie Graham to sprint away and score under the posts. This passage of play was duplicated several minutes later and again the ball was passed among the backs before Abbie Graham added her second try under the posts. Maddie Lockwood converting both tries to make the score 26 – 0. Beckenham then came more into the game and started to pressure the Rochford line, but they could not make this count and after a mistake the ball was turned over and Bianca Bodset raced away to score another try. This spurred Rochford to greater efforts and they spent a long time camped in the Beckenham 22 and after some sustained pressure won a penalty. From the quick tap Maddie Lockwood used her size and strength to power over the line and she converted her own try to make the score 38 – 0 at half time.
The second half started scrappily and Rochford rested their more experienced players to give valuable game time to their new players. Rochford were not quite so dominant, but after several phases of play, with the ball being recycled well, hooker Faye Smale broke away to score, Maddie Lockwood again adding the conversion.
Faye Smale was having a fine game and from another scrum she won the ball against the head and the ball was fed along the line for Bianca Bodset to sprint away to score her third try of the game and Maddie Lockwood converted to add the extra 2 points.
Rather than dropping their heads this spurred Beckenham into more positive action and they started to dominate play and possession again and camped themselves in the Rochford 22, but they could not penetrate the stout Rochford defence and possession was turned over and Abbie Graham sprinted the length of the field to score her third try, with Maddie Lockwood adding the conversion. Play was then played mainly in the middle of the pitch for a while with neither side getting the upper hand until Maddie Lockwood pounced on a loose ball and powered her way to the line and then converting her own try. Plucky Beckenham then had another spell of territorial advantage forcing Rochford back to their own line, but as happened earlier a move broke down and the ball turned over and after a few quick passes Bianca Bodset raced away to score the in the final move of the game, leaving Rochford comfortable winners by 69 – 0.
Rochford U 18 Girls v Beckenham U 18 Girls
As with the U15’s, the U18’s ran out comfortable winners against an inexperienced and depleted Beckenham side. Playing against the wind in the first half, the Rochford forwards took the game to Beckenham from the off.
Collecting the ball from the start, Meg took the ball into contact and from the resulting ruck, the ball was quickly fed by Jen across the backs to Tash who streaked away down the wing to put the girls 5-0 up with Lucie duly converting the kick
7-0.
From the restart the forwards led by Sam again piled pressure on the Beckenham pack and with Jen and Yaz playing quick ball from the back off the rucks the backs were given licence to run at the Beckenham line.
With 15 minutes gone, the Rochford girls had stormed into a commanding lead with further tries from Ellie, Jen and a 2nd from Tash to go 22-0 up.
The Beckenham girls never gave up trying to get the ball out to their wings to run at the Rochford defence but some excellent defensive work by Ellie and Lucie stopped them in their tracks.
As the half wore on the continual pressure from the forwards with Cat and Jemma driving through the Beckenham lines soon paid of with further tries by Tash (3rd) and Jen (2nd) to go in at half time 32-0 up.
Turning round to play with the wind at their backs the girls were soon back to putting pressure on the Beckenham line and were quickly rewarded with a try from Yaz after a jinking run through the centre 37-0.
Even though victory was assured, the girls relentless drive for more points soon paid of when Ellen was released to run in her first try for the team 42-0.
Further tries late in the half by Lucie, Jen (3rd) A second for Ellie and Yaz put the girls 62-0 up with only minutes to go.
Not wanting to be outdone by the backs, the forwards were desperate to get in on the act and with a couple of minutes remaining Tash having made a break on the wing, fed the ball inside to Meg who shook off the tackle to run in the final try of the day to make the final score Rochford 67 Beckenham 0
Scorers: Tries Tash(3),Jen(3),Ellie(2), Yaz (2), Ellen, Meg, Lucie
Conv Lucie
Team: Jemma, Sam, Frances, Cat, Meg, Ellen,Tash, Jen, Yaz, Lucie, Ellie,
Amy, Bron, Becky
Well done girls 2 great team efforts.Thanks to Pete Cook for Match report.
Photos to follow.
