By Adam Hookway

A poor first half left Tonbridge Juddians with too big a mountain to climb as their National League 2 East campaign began with a 37-24 defeat at home to Rochford Hundred.

All first games can be nervy affairs and with new faces it can take time for a team to gel. That was certainly true for Tonbridge, but things looked to be going well in the first quarter despite Rochford taking the lead with a penalty after 12 minutes.

Hugo Watson carved out the first Judds chance, but his chip ahead bounced too high off the hard ground and the scoring opportunity was lost. After that, the bounce of the ball went Rochford's way as they ran in three converted tries.

A second Rochford penalty added to the home side's woes, leaving them trailing 27-0 at the break.

TJs returned to the fray with renewed vigour and Luke Boon crashed over after 51 minutes for their first try of the season. Rob White converted and three minutes later Joe Duffy repeated the feat, White adding the extras again, to reduce the arrears to 13 points.

Rochford missed a penalty chance and TJs responded as full-back Harvey Young found a way through the away side's ranks and Toby Freeman finished off the move. The conversion was missed, however, and instead the visitors added to their score with a fourth converted try.

There was time for Duffy to double his try tally, but again the conversion was missed, before Rochford were accurate from the tee, finishing the contest as they started it with a final penalty kick.

A try bonus point ensures Tonbridge are off the mark ahead of their trip to Canterbury on Saturday.