Hitchin Cougars v Datchworth Won 35-0
The Cougars started the festival in wide awake mode despite the jumping forward of clocks and early arrival at OA’ville. This was a dominant performance, setting the tone for the day nicely. Hitchin kicked off with Ethan B run, offload to Sam K making ground, supported by Max, ruck 5m out, forwards win ball, Kai picks up and nips through gap himself for 5-0 lead. Datchworth pressure, Dylan, Rory & Alex work well to win ball. Sam B finds Ciaran who makes great weaving run deep into their half, brought down just short on right wing. Scrum Kai Ethan L blind, good burst held just short. Datchworth break, Sam B tackle & rip, Hitchin get penalty Ethan L speeds up right wing to score for 10-0. SamK makes a roadrunner sprint from our half weaving through 3 tacklers to get through for 15-0 at half time. Datchworth start second half, great blitzing from Hitchin pushes them back into their own half, Alex wins ball, Jack 10m break powers through the defence to score for 20-0. Kai was soon at the centre of a good rolling maul pushing into their half. Scrum ball won well by forwards, ball out wide through back line to EthanB who gets into corner for 25-0. Datchworth didn’t give up, strong running held up by great tackling in midfield, SamK, Jack, Kai tackles & rips deep in our half, ball out to EthanL who makes a length of the pitch run to score for 30-0 lead. The final move of the game saw Connor make nip though a hole in the defence to score for a convincing 35-0 win.
Hitchin Cougars v Hemel Hempstead Won 20-0
Hemel start, good defence from Hitchin Connor blindside run, penalty EthanL up the middle, recycled quickly by Alex, Jack & Morgan in ruck, rapid ball to SamK who makes 10m dash to left to open the scoring at 5-0. Ciaran break opens up the Hemel defence tackled but again good forward support at ruck. Connor to SamK who outpaces defence with style from half way to score on left for 10-0 lead. Hemel come back, great blitzing from Hitchin to restrict Hemel, Connor, SamB & EthanB tackles. Last Hitchin attack of the half saw Connor break through 4 tacklers but held up just short of the Hemel line.
Second half underway with EthanB zippy run, Connor takes ball on then SamB runs left side, ball back to EthanB who cuts inside through couple of tacklers to score for 15-0. Hemel determined in attack, forwards in the thick of the tackling with Alex & Jack & Morgan knocking them back. Loose ball picked up by Connor out wide to Ciaran who made ground before putting EthanL away on the wing, held up just short of line. Scrum won by Hitchin, Connor goes blind sucks in defender before passing to EthanB 5m out who goes over in the left corner for 20-0. Kai & Max on, soon defending stoutly, EthanL makes a mazy run supported by Ciaran,
Hitchin Cougars convincing winners of the group, and looked forward to meeting the second placed team from the hotly contested group D
QUARTER FINAL
Hitchin Cougars v Fullerians Won 15-0
Hitchin started with a Wales ball, Connor to Ethan who hit the Fullers defence at pace, broke through 2 defenders for a 5-0 dream start. EthanL break right, SamK makes a dart, Connor penalty to Jack who tears up the middle. Scrum won by forwards, Connor to SamB, then SamK uses his speed to beat tacklers for 10-0 lead. EthanB break round the right, EthanL takes ball forward into midfield. Penalty move, Alex bashes hole, offload to SamB who makes ground, finds EthanL in space on right wing outside defence for 15-0 half-time lead. Fullers hit back after the break with strong attacking play, but Hitchin defence was committed and strong from forwards and backs alike to prevent a breach. Scrum Connor to SamB blindside break, pass back inside to EthanB tackled to touch 5m out. Fullers come back but face good blitzing defence, especially Max, Connor & EthanL. More Fullers pressure, good scrum work, Kai releases SamB on break to right, Ciaran supporting well taking ball into Fullers half, Max taking the ball close to line on left side but Fullers defence holds firm. Game ends 15-0 and Semi Final awaits.
SEMI FINAL
Hitchin Cougars v OA’s Lost 10-25
Having faced OA’s a few times this season, we knew this was going to be a massive challenge. OA’s started with a big rumble up the middle, Jack Morgan & Alex all halted the attack, turnover Connor run up the middle, held up just 5m from line, offloads to SamK who goes blindside into the corner for 5-0. OA’s stung into action and made strong inroads into our half, forwards tied up in ruck, ball quickly wide and despite last ditch tackles from Max & EthanL, OA’s drew level at 5-5. Cougars restarted with typical strong EthanL run deep into the home defence. OA’s got numbers early to ruck and came up with ball, some fine offloading and support and Cougars on back-foot, tackling hard, but despite impressive defence deep in our half from Alex and SamB, the OA support crashed through for 10-5 lead. Remainder of first half belonged to Hitchin but remained scoreless, Jack making a typical run into OA’s defence, SamB then SamK also making strong bursts but were held up short, and halftime whistle blew. The second half kicked off with an EthanL break deep into OA’s half out before being forced into touch. OA line out led to them making ground as ball spread wide, lots of Hitchin tackles across back line, SamK held up attacker and Kai ripped ball but OA’s pressure brought them ruck ball and good offloads saw them force through for 15-5 lead. Cougars answered this with a zippy SamK run outwitting the defence on the right wing to score & reduce the gap to 15-10. The home side again fought back with high tempo play, and Cougars defence unable to hold back the OA’s tide as score reached 20-10. Cougars still attacking hard, Connor sniping run, EthanL having a dart, but OA’s lines remained intact. When they recovered the ball, they built up a final phase of play, with Hitchin tackles flying in from all forwards and backs, finally big lumpy forward gets through and the game finished at 25-10, no fair reflection of the titanic battle that OA’s deserved to edge.
At the end, the players were gutted to miss out on a county final again, but they had given their all and played some superb rugby, with the Cougars scoring 16 tries with just 5 conceded.
Cougars player of the day was Alex, who typified the huge efforts of the team. Alex was fierce in defence, and made a great contribution to winning ball all over the field.