Sunday 27th November
Essex Cup 2nd Round
Chingford 60 – Rochford 14


Ching knew that fellow 1st division team Rochford would give them a good
game, and from the kick off Rochford threatened the Ching line. Good defence
and aggressive running, particularly Jack and Syrus soon had Ching in the
Rochford half. At 5 mins Ching won a ruck on the Rochford 22 and Sam Robbens
got quick ball out to Ellis on the wing who went over for the first try.
Rochford came back against Ching, but good drives by Nick and Max and strong
forward work by Peter, Adam and Sam Fitzgerald soon had Ching back in the
Rochford half. Ching made a good drive to the Rochford line and Max picked
up the ball and dived over for the 2nd try at 9 mins. On 14 mins Ching won a
scrum against the head and got quick ball out to the backs where Ben was
tackled but kept his legs pumping in the tackle to force his way over for
the 3rd try. Ching were playing good rugby but failed to make the most of
their opportunities. At 20 mins Rochford were awarded a penalty on the Ching
line and looked certain to score when Max ripped the ball from the tackle
and sprinted the length of the field to score with Matt Lumb landing a good
conversion. At 23 minutes Rochford were awarded another penalty on the Ching
line, and made no mistake with a good try. 2 minutes later Ching won a scrum
on the half-way line and got quick ball out to the backs. Ben dummied and
then cut inside to score and convert his own try to leave the half-time
score at 31-7.
Ching started the 2nd half full of running and a great break by Nick Arnold
soon had Rochford under pressure. Their clearing kick found Matt Marie on
the half-way line who went wide, cut back inside and then jinked his way
through the rest of the defence to score a fantastic try. Rochford would not
lie down and at 5 minutes scored their 2nd converted try after getting the
ball out wide and around the Ching defence. Ching then played their best
rugby of the game, with a great score at 9 minutes to Ben following good
work by Sam Robbens and Reece.  This was followed by the best team try which
involved 2 miss passes and a great pick up by Ellis running at full speed.
With 10 minutes to go, Ching were running the show and a kick into space,
and great chase by Matt Lumb caused havoc in the Rochford defence. Syrus
arrived and picked up the ball to get Chings 9th try of the morning. The
final try of the game suitably went to Max who ripped the ball from the
tackle at half-way and ran unopposed to the line. The icing on the cake was
him converting his own try.
Once again a great team performance with everyone playing great linking
rugby and, more importantly advancing to the next stage of the cup
competition.

Scorers – Trys Max Rabey (3), Ben Maru (3), Ellis Flaherty (2), Syrus
Nikbakht, Matt Marie
Conversions – Ben Maru (3), Matt Lumb (2)

Sam Fitzgerald, Adam Wakeling, Robbie Cook, Peter Young, Jack Johnson, Syrus
Nikbakht, Nick Arnold, Max Rabey (c), Sam Robbens, Reece Daltrey, Ellis
Flaherty, Matt Lumb, Ben Maru, Patrick Love, Matt Marie, Will McGillivray,
James Willis, Brandon Cox