A smaller than usual squad of 18 made their way to Billericay for a friendly match with a number of boys away and a few more still returning from injury. We knew Billericay well from last season’s fixture so were expecting a good, physical match. Luke Hudson was making his first appearance in black and red at his old stomping ground.

The front row started with Jack Stickings at tight-head prop, James Mowle at hooker and Daniel House at loose-head. Harrison McKenna and Jack Cahill started in the second row, Reece Garstin at openside flanker with Austen King at blindside and Louis Dawkins at number 8. Liam Baker began at scrum-half, Louis Croll at fly-half, Luke Hudson started at inside centre and Reiss Sellwood at outside centre with Aaron Cocks and Callum Blackman on the wings. Corey Lazell completed the side at full-back. With Billericay short of a couple of players had Jack Murphy and Jacob Wright pull on the gold and black.

Rochford elected to receive the kick-off and face up hill for the first half. Both sides began to compete well and use the width as much as possible. It was Billericay who made the most of their chances, pushing Rochford into their own half and a series of handling errors saw Rochford make life difficult for themselves. Eventually the pressure told and a failure of the Rochford defence to deal with one of the bigger Billericay boys saw them open the scoring.

Rochford continued to fail to really gel as a team and show their hosts what they were capable of. The constant Billericay pressure told and they continued to make ground, scoring again to double their lead. This sprang Rochford onto action and a series of phases saw the ball make its way to Jack Stickings on the right who forced his way to the line and touched the ball down at arm’s length and inches over the line. Liam Baker made quite a difficult conversion look easy and added the extra two points.

Billericay showed their determination not to let this set back get to them and began to press again. Rochford’s defence began to give away a series of penalties for offsides and going off feet in the ruck which just put them under more pressure deep in their own half. A minor knock to Reiss Sellwood saw him replaced, with Chris Martin coming on at Hooker, James Mowle moving to prop and Jack Stickings to outside centre. The extra space told and it was Jack again who made another burst down the right and scored his second of the game to keep Rochford in within a score of Billericay. As the half neared an end the Billericay forwards made one last push and scored their fourth try to go in at half time with a ten point lead.

Half-time – Billericay 22 Rochford 12

The second half saw Jack Murphy come into the second row, Jacob Wright take his place on the wing, Reiss Sellwood return to outside centre and Jack Stickings moved to flanker. Harrison McKenna and Callum Blackman switched to make up the Billericay numbers. The Rochford boys had a given themselves a serious talking to at half time and they knew they needed to start performing as they have done over the last few weeks. Now facing down the slope the change was evident from the kick-off. With the ball allowed to bounce Rochford pounced on it and recycled it out to the left for Jack Stickings power through the Billericay defence and open the second half with his third try. Liam Baker secured the extra two points to put Rochford within three.

There was no stopping the boys now as they clearly had the bit between their teeth and thirty yard burst from Jack Stickings saw him offload to Aaron Cocks on the Billericay twenty-two and he broke the last two defensive tackles to power over the line. Rochford began to dominate both the attacking phases and the defence, effectively shutting out the Billericay attacks and making some crunching tackles. Making their way to the opposition twenty-two yet again, a penalty to Rochford saw Reece Gartsin take a quick ball from Liam Baker at speed and, after breaking a couple of tackles dive high over a prone defender to score Rochford’s fifth of the match.

Determined to push home their advantage further Rochford attacked again, recycling the ball through several phases of play. Getting the ball away from the breakdown at speed was vital given the strength of the Billericay side, and that’s what they did. Another break through the Billericay line saw Reece Garstin put through again to score his second. Liam Baker made no mistake with the conversion.

With Gareth looking to shuffle his pack again, his hand was forced by Jack Murphy suffering a wardrobe malfunction (a disintegrated boot) and so Reece Garstin moved into the second row and Austen King returned at flanker. A quick tap penalty from Liam Baker saw the ball moved wide to Jack Stickings, on to Louis Croll and finally to Jacob Wright who broke two tackles to score in the corner.

Full time – Billericay 22 Rochford 41

It would be easy to blame the slope in the pitch for the first half performance but that would take the credit away from Billericay and also from the boys for putting right their first half mistakes and playing the second as an effective attacking and defensive unit.

Austen King was chosen as the man of the match for his excellent sniping round the scrum and his fearless tackling of the largest of the Billericay team.

Tries
Jack Stickings 3
Aaron Cocks
Reece Garstin 2
Jacob Wright

Conversions
Liam Baker 3

1, Daniel House; 2, James Mowle; 3, Jack Stickings; 4, Harrison McKenna; 5, Jack Cahill; 6, Austen King; 7, Reece Garstin; 8, Louis Dawkins; 9, Liam Baker; 10, Louis Croll; 11, Aaron Cocks; 12, Luke Hudson; 13, Reiss Sellwood; 14, Callum Blackman; 15, Corey Lazell; 16, Jacob Wright; 17, Chris Martin; 18, Jack Murphy

Rochford Hundred Rugby Club

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