Hertford U15 ‘B’ 17 vs Hitchin U15 ‘B’ 42 (HML Div 6)
Starting XV: Charlie, Toby, Maitiu, James, Taylor, Aaron, Conor, George E, Sam R, George V, Matt, Luke, Will M-W, Bradley, Jamie
Subs: Dion, Huw, Zac, Will J, Nathan, Ashley G
Tries: George E (x3), Conor, Aaron, Toby, James
Conversions: Matt (1)
Hitchin U15 ‘B’ continued their fine unbeaten league form with a crucial away win over Hertford ‘B’ on Sunday. Knowing that victory would ensure promotion Hitchin set about their task from the outset with the forwards applying good early pressure as they set up camp in the Hertford half of the pitch. This very quickly paid off when George E got through around the scrum to score the first try of the day. This was quickly followed by more pressure in the Hertford half as the superiority of the Hitchin pack again let George E through to score following a good drive to move Hitchin into a well deserved 10-0 lead.
There then followed a spell of Hertford attacking play in the Hitchin half as the hosts tried to come back but a superb 50 yard run by Taylor quickly forced Hertford back to their own 22 metre line. An attempted clearance was then collected well by James who ran the ball up field before being held up and as Hitchin’s forwards continued to pile on the pressure a series of mishandles in the Hertford defence allowed Toby to snatch the ball and place it down for the third try.
With the score at 0-15 Hertford rallied and pulled a try back with some neat passing across their back line which eventually saw the ball go out to their winger who despite initially falling short of the line still managed to get across for the try. This however just encouraged Hitchin to go for more points and a clever switch by George V in the middle of the park enabled Taylor to set off on another good run to move the ball back towards the Hertford goal line. Good set up work then helped Maitiu to move the ball nearer to the try line before being held up by some desperate Hertford defenders but eventually the ball came loose and made its way back to Aaron and then finally to Conor who was able to use his strength to place the ball down and increase Hitchin’s lead. H-T 5-20
The second half saw a number of substitutes for Hitchin with Will J, Nathan and Ashley G replacing Will M-W, Bradley and Conor respectively but this didn’t upset the teams momentum as George E secured his hat trick by running 50 yards clear on a breakaway to increase Hitchin’s advantage and move the score on to 5-25 in their favour. Hertford then responded with their second try of the day but this was quickly cancelled out when Aaron forced his way into the corner to score. Following this Hitchin then camped themselves in the Hertford half with a series of scrums but eventually Hertford broke through into the Hitchin half. However from this Sam kicked clear and in doing so released Matt who saw his chase down of the loose ball rewarded with a try in the corner.
Hertford then responded with their third try which came from a quickly taken penalty. Some nice passing along the back line eventually released one of their players who took good advantage of the space available to him to run through and score a fine individual try. This was followed by a successful conversion which moved the score on to 17-35.
With the clock now starting to run down and despite victory being almost assured Hitchin still continued to maintain the pressure that they had been applying all match. This was again to bear fruit when a chase down by Sam forced a scrum from which James was able to score the last try of the day.
A successful conversion by Matt (which was at last a reward for some excellent kicking all throughout the match) then put the final seal on a superb all round team performance and a thoroughly well deserved victory, which at the same time ensured promotion to division 5 next season. F-T 17-42
MEN OF THE MATCH: The pack – a pretty awesome and ultimately match winning display