A good weekend this week as the Jaguars came away with two excellent wins at Cheshunt.
HITCHIN JAGUARS v CHESHUNT Won 15-5
The jags warm up went well and every one of the squad turned up to play and were switched on from the off. Dan, the captain for the first match elected to play up the vicious slope whilst the team were fresh. The pitch was saturated so it looked a most unlikely venue for some open running rugby. The whistle went and from the off Cheshunt came down the hill with the heavy brigade and immediately scored. The Jags restarted through Dylan who made some good yards however the Jags lost control and Cheshunt replied with a good break from one of the fast backs who intercepted a pass and crossed the line .The try however was not given and Hitchin had the put in 5 yards from the line. The shock of the first two Cheshunt attacks must have stunned the Jags into action. The forwards of Dylan, Alfie and Stevie went to work with a massive scrum pushing the Cheshunt forwards up hill. Sam H at scrum half fed Daniel who made yards before shipping out to Harry. Harry was tackled and the forwards were quick on hand. Dylan picked and drove. A ruck was formed and Stevie and Alfie drove over to present .Sam H went blind and passed to Max passed to Tom who broke into midfield Lawrence linked well and almost made the try line however he was forced into touch. The Jags started to see a little more of the ball and from a lineout Dylan won the ball and presented well for Sam. Sam shipped a pass to Daniel who jinked through the defence to score Cheshunt came back hard and the Jags defended well. Harry H put his body on the line with a fantastic tackle to prevent a certain score. Cheshunt did not back off and almost breached the try line. Cheshunt were stopped 5 meters from the line by a tackle from Max. Stevie, Alfie and Dylan piled in and won the ball. Sam H, on his line picked up and drove like an extra forward helped by Dylan Alfie and Stevie. They mauled their way out of danger and the ball went to ground Sam H presented well and Daniel stepped in and managed to get a pass out to Tom who was forced into touch. That signalled the end of the first half. Honours even at one score each, 5-5. The Jags started the second half strongly with some cracking defence by Sam H, Harry H, Max and Tom to halt the initial onslaught by Cheshunt. Dylan picked up and went on one of his rampaging runs before being hauled down. Sam H picked a good pass to Harry H who ran the ball out of the Jags half. Harry was stopped but excellent work by the forwards retained possession. Quick ball down the backs saw Tom score in the opposite corner. The Jags scored a third with an excellent try out wide by Lawrence who showed great pace strength and composure to finish off another back line move. Dylan worked hard all game with some energy sapping runs often taking 2-3 of the Cheshunt forwards to stop him as he punched holes in the defence. This provided a great platform for the backs who handled the ball well despite the dreadful conditions. The Jags could have scored a forth however Daniel did not quite ground the ball as he crossed the line.
HITCHIN JAGUARS v CHESHUNT Won 20-15
Changes were made with Harry G coming on for Stevie, Freddie coming on at scrum half , Sam H moving to fly half, Oskar coming on for Harry H in the centre and Naomh swapping with Lawrence on the wing. Again the Jags started up hill with the stiffening breeze in their faces. Cheshunt came out strongly and tried to exploit the flanks but Max put in great tackle to hold up the attack. Cheshunt broke out but Tom tracked back well to put in an excellent cover tackle to prevent an opening score. Freddie and Sam H worked hard often tacking in pairs to hold up the Cheshunt attack. Dylan broke out and very nearly ran half of the length of the pitch before being bundled into touch 5 meters from the try line. Alfie and Harry worked well matching the Cheshunt forwards for power in the close exchanges. Alfie had a number of strong runs causing difficulties for the opposition. Cheshunt scored first however the Jags came back. A good forward charge was stopped 10m out. Freddie picked up made ground but was stopped. Cheshunt were caught off side. The scrum was won and a good hook from Harry G saw Freddie go on the blindside to score. Cheshunt mounted another attack and the Jags defended well. The game was nip and tuck and Cheshunt could have scored quite a few tries as the game opened out however some excellent tackling by Harry G, Freddie, Oskar, Sam H, Naomh and Max. Cheshunt eventually did score however the Jags came straight back at them with a fine second try by Freddie following another charge form Dylan and Alfie. They were stopped short of the line. The Jags were awarded the. Freddie went blind and ducked under the covering defence to score his second. Cheshunt scored again to make it 15 -10 but a storming run by Max on the wing and a good drive from the forwards saw max finish the move as he popped out through the middle of the maul to score a well-deserved try. Cheshunt pushed on for the win and despite some tired bodies the physicality and intensity of both teams did not drop .The forwards once again secured the ball and Freddie passed to Sam H. Sam H made good ground before passing to Naomh who finally found some space to work and ran a try in from 30 m. The game finished 20-15 with a second win of the morning for the Jags.
Brian was pleased with the entire squad and despite the heavy conditions the interplay and ball handling between the players was very good indeed.
Alfie & Stevie had solid games against strong powerful opposition. Harry G had his best game to date, counter rucking and tacking very well. Dylan had an game his work rate and ball carrying was superb .Daniel and Harry H are very strong in both attack and defence and played very well in the first game each picking up a score each. Lawrence performance and patients was rewarded with a try as was Max who always works hard in defence as well as attack. Oskar had a quiet start in the second game but soon sprung to life with some direct running and solid defending. Tom played two very good games in midfield and put in a good shift in defence. Naomh picked up a very good score to win the game. Freddie came on and again had a strong game at scrum half. He picked up two tries and was a difficult customer to stop from close range. He also put in a decent defensive performance and made a number of important tackles. Sam H had one of his strongest defensive performances to date. He mixed it well with the larger Cheshunt forwards who he niggled and harried all morning. He put in a couple of “man and ball” tackles as well as preventing at least one try. He always tracked back and tried to make a tackle even when the causes were lost. Therefore based upon his performance today he was awarded “Tackler of the Week”.
Team Dylan Crofton, Henry Tucker, Alfie Cannon, Stephen Shaw, Oskar Bhowmick, Harry Gray, Freddy Hindson, Samuel Humphrey, Naomh Taylor, Laurence Hidle, Daniel Hill, Tom McClymont, Max Ward, Harry Hughes
Scores
League Tables