Hitchin kicked off with a strong wind blowing across the pitch,
and exerted early pressure in the Datchworth 22 After 5 minutes a strong run through he mid field by Tony Williams was brought to an end by a
scrambled defence. Jack Peachey put in a deft kick to find touch near the
Datchworth line, but the visitors managed to clear to halfway.
Hitchin appeared to be up for this local derby, and were
putting together several attacking phases, but could not breach the Datchworth
defence. After 20 minutes the visitors made a rare excursion into the home
side’s half, but were unable to take any advantage. Peachey now made an
exciting break into the Datchworth 22 to set up a 10 m scrum, but again his
side were unable to get to the try line, being penalised for holding on
Datchworth started to put together some moves, but the
Hitchin defence held out
A typical 30m run out of defence by Alistair Southward took
Hitchin to the opposition 22, and after exchanges Peachey ran in to score wide
out, the conversion attempt failing, to give his side a 5 point lead at half
time.
This was less of an advantage than they would have hoped for,
with the possession and territory enjoyed in the first half, and Datchworth
struck back within a minute of kicking off the second half, to score under the
posts to take a 2 point lead. Whatever was said doing the break had worked!
After 18 minutes, as the home side were scrummaging on the Datchworth
10 m line, the visitors broke away into the Hitchin 22, and winning the resulting
ruck, went over for a unconverted try
Hitchin , still in with a chance to record a win, were
attacking in the visitors 22, when a loose pass was intercepted for the Datchworth player to run
the length of the field to torch down
for 7 points, to extend the lead to 19 -
5
After 30 minutes, with Hitchin back in the opposition half,
Ryan Arbon , coming off the bench, broke away from a maul on the 22m line to crash over the line for Ben Wiggins to add the
extra points
With Datchworth looking for a bonus point forth try, and the home side looking to
level the score, play switched form end
to end, but both defences held out until the final whistle
An improved performance from the Hedgehogs, who host
Stowmarket on Saturday 14th October in round one of the London &
SE Senior Vase competition
Team James Akrill, Thomas Tidey, Harry Elleston, Max Stallard, Nick Panton, Samuel Underwood, Joshua Page, Anthony Williams, Heinrich Schlehmeyer, Ben Wiggins, Alistair Southward, Jack Peachey, Harry Cartwright, Charles Wood-Jones, Elliot Gibson
Subs Carwyn Morgan, Ryan Arbon, Jake Ware
Scores T: Jack Peachey (1), Ryan Arbon (1)
C: Ben Wiggins (1)
Player(s) of Match 1. Anthony Williams, 2. Thomas Tidey, 3. Ryan Arbon
The league: London North West 3