This defeat, 'The Exiles' first in six matches, came at the end of a match which could be best described as "stop start".

Rochford, unbeaten on their Magnolia Road ground all season, had the first opportunity to open the scoring on 2 minutes, but Bracknell's penalty attempt missed. Cornish responded strongly, despite fielding three debutants (Ed Drewett, Ben Devonport and Joe Welch, who all put in strong performances) and having made 9 changes from side successful in the league the previous week, they hit back. Matt Hakes created a great chance which brought the Exiles to within 5 metres of the Rochford line. However, the final pass was intercepted and the chance went.

The home side had another period of pressure, and fly half Ashton received the ball on the 22, and broke though attempted tackles to score in the left hand corner. Bracknell's conversion attempt was wide.

Cornish replied immediately with a powerful rolling maul, which sent Rochford hurtling backwards. The ball broke to Truro born Ben Devonport, who scored in the right hand corner. Sam Williams' conversion attempt missed. With a quarter of an hour gone, it was level at 5-5.

The game then degenerated for a period into an arm wrestle, but Cornish managed to create a great chance when Hakes put Joe Welch, who looked to feed Tom Wapshott, who was making his first start since 'The Exiles' only previous visit to Rochford some three years ago! Unfortunately, the ball could not be gathered.

As the half entered its final ten minutes, Rochford Hundred began to grasp the nettle and, aided by a number of penalties, advanced towards the Cornish line. Superb defence kept the hosts at bay. Eventually, the pressure told and, from another penalty, Bracknell kicked Rochford ahead. Once more, Cornish responded, and from a promising attack, they won a penalty of their own, which Sam Williams kicked for 8-8.

Right on half time, a super chip through saw Rochford camped in the Cornish 22, and a quick pass saw Baker break through. The referee ruled that the move was halted illegaly and sent a Cornish forward to the sin-bin. The resulting penalty was kicked to touch, and a rolling maul drove Cornish back until a try was scored. With the conversion missed, 'The Exiles' trailed 13-8 at the break.

Cornish started the second half well, with Mark Osei-Tutu starting to get plenty of ball and space to run in. From one such attack, he offloaded to Adam Rae who sprinted through, but good defence snuffed out the attack. Another fine move from Rae could only be halted illegally, and the Rochford back was sin-binned. Sam Williams kicked the penalty and 'The Exiles' were right back in it at 13-11.

The match then broke down with numerous penalties being awarded, which badly affected the flow of the game. Crucially, Rochford had the next successful kick at goal to extend their advantage to 16-11. Try as Cornish might, and some sensational moves from Robin Heymann caused mayhem in the Rochford defence at times, they just couldn't get that all important second try.

Entering the final five minutes, it was anyone's game and even extra time looked a possibility. However, it was not to be, as what looked to be an innocuous incident with Rochford throwing the ball into touch, was perceived completely differently by the referee who sinbinned a Cornish back, and in the immediate aftermath a forward was dispatched to the bin for questioning the decision. The miscreant Rochford player did at least have the grace to come and find the binned exile to apologise post match. Down to thirteen men, Cornish had their backs against the wall. From the resulting penalty, Rochford recycled and eventually drove over to score, and gain a place in the Quarter-Finals of the London section of the competition.