ON THE CHARGE!!
Hitchin put in another good league away performance to run in eight tries against Bank of England RFC on 17 Nov 2018, the seventh
bonus point
win in a row, to keep their place at the top of the league. The Hedgehogs’
dominant pack, combining well with an efficient backline, laid the foundations
for this emphatic victory
No sooner had the home side kicked off, a charged down kick was picked up by an offside Hitchin player giving Bank a shot at goal. The kick missed, and Hitchin full back Ali Southward was able to run 50m out of defence deep into the Bank half, where a penalty to Hitchin was duly converted by Ben Wiggins.
Next, from a scrum on the Bank 22, lock Ryan Arbon got over the line for a try, converted by Wiggins.
Several phases from another scrum on the home side 22m line were followed by prop Sean McGinnity going over for an unconverted try.
A penalty to Hitchin for holding on was converted by Wiggins from 30 metres.
Bank fought back and were held up over the Hitchin line, but two minutes later they breached the defence for a try under the posts which was successfully converted
After 30 minutes, a line out on the Bank five-metre line led to a rolling maul, for Hitchin’s man of the match Matt Trussell to go over for his first try for the 1XV, duly converted by Wiggins
As half-time approached, a penalty to Hitchin was kicked for the line out .Hitchin lost control of the ball, but Bank were unable to clear their line and from a five-metre scrum the Hitchin forwards were able to push their opponents over the line for Arbon to get his second try, again converted by Ben Wiggins, for a 32 -7 lead
Within a minute of the restart a quickly taken penalty on the Bank 22m line saw Daniel Wiggins dot down wide out.
A little later James Bolter picked up the ball at a ruck and drove straight through to score under the posts, Wiggins adding the extras.
Although the Hitchin pack was dominating the set piece, Bank managed to get their hands on the ball to enable their quick backs to attack and go over in the corner for an unconverted try
Straight away a counter-attack involving most of the backs ended with Daniel Wiggins receiving the scoring pass from Ali Southward, the conversion being kicked by his brother Ben
A kick chase by Bank gave them another try, but Hitchin struck back with another pushover try by Thomas Spratt, converted by Wiggins.
By this time Hitchin were losing some of their earlier structure and the dangerous Bank backs were only denied further scores by some superb covering tackles by Chris Martin, Ali Southward and Carwyn Morgan.
Coach Adam Shaw, a man of few words commented “A good all-round performance”
Team Sean McGinnity, Tom Tidey, James Akrill, Jonathan Welsford, Matt Trussell, Ryan Arbon, Frederick Rooney, Armel Baufume, Daniel Wiggins, Ben Wiggins, William Rooney, James Bolter, Carwyn Morgan, Chris Martin, Alistair Southward
Subs William Sale, Harry Elleston, Thomas Spratt
Scores T: Daniel Wiggins (2), Ryan Arbon (2), Thomas Spratt (1), James Bolter (1), Sean McGinnity (1), Matt Trussell (1)
C: Ben Wiggins (6)
P: Ben Wiggins (2)
Player(s) of Match 1. Matt Trussell, 2. Alistair Southward, 3. Daniel Wiggins
The league: Herts/Middlesex 1