Hedgehogs 19 Welwyn 0
A late change of fixture saw the Hedgehogs on their travels again and it was a bare 15 who finally made it to Welwyn with Simon Goodlad turning up in his Noddy car just in time to join the fray ! This game was notable for the return to action of 2 of the Hedgehogs core players with Kevin Lok finally making it back from a wrist injury and Gus King fulfilling a long standing promise to take to the pitch again after 2 seasons out with a shoulder injury and at 55 years old he was a shining example of the never say die attitude of the front row union .There was a debutante at Fly Half in the shape of Jon Baker who has been out of the game for a few years but soon got into the thick of things and made a telling contribution to a fine team effort. Welwyn had the choice of 20 players all of which they used but it was to no avail against a strong and resolute Hedgehogs defence that for the second week in a row was never breached with all the Hedgehogs putting in strong tackles the pick of which was a fine effort from Kevin Lok .When it looked like the young Welwyn scrum half had finally broken through only to find the last man he had to beat was in no mood to let him past ! Mark Gibson was doing his usual rampaging bull impersonation ably supported by the other 5 flankers who were in the Hedgehogs pack and Tony Fitzpatrick who was having a go at flanker to enable the team to fill all the positions to the best advantage. This is becoming a feature of the Hedgehogs ethos in which players will fill positions that are not strictly their preferred ones for the good of the team and to make sure everyone gets a game. The tries were all well worked and with the forwards and backs combining fluently the first score was Ben Pharasi showing a lot of upper body strength to shake off the Welwyn defenders to break clear and score near the posts giving Jon Baker the chance to score his first points for Hitchin with his conversion. Chris Pike who was filling in at Scrum Half had a storming game but after a rare lapse in concentration was caught with the ball and was injured in the ensuing scramble resulting in the Medics rushing on to find him writhing in agony and fearing the worst for his ankle. This happened just before half time so we carried on to the break with 14 men only for Chris to rise Phoenix like in the early stages of the second half to score a fine individual effort which required him to run at least 20 meters at full speed ! The pick of the tries was yet to come and was scored by Gary Wearing who rolled off the back of a maul 25 meters out on the blind side with the touch line 5 meters away, he then proceeded to shrug off a couple of Welwyn tackles and put the ball down in the corner whilst being closely attended by what was left of the Welwyn defence. This try along with a good solid performance in attack ,support and defence was the reason Gary was a deserved man of the match ! To sum up,this game was won by 15 players who had belief in themselves right from the first whistle to the last and was a good all round effort by all concerned . Next week sees the visit of Letchworth to Hitchin and after a poor performance at their ground earlier in the season the recent form of the Hedgehogs with 4 wins on the trot needs to be maintained !
Team Dave Turner, Gary Hawtin, Gus King, Gary Wearing, Rob Pankhurst, Christopher Pike, Mark Gibson, Simon Goodlad, Matt Ruffell, Jomathon Baker, Kevin Lok, Christopher Lavallee, Nathan Tyler, Anthony Fitzpatrick, Ben Phairasi
Scores T: Gary Wearing (1), Christopher Pike (1), Ben Phairasi (1)
C: Jomathon Baker (2)
Player(s) of Match 1. Gary Wearing
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