Sing when you are winning part 2 . Datchworth 3 Hedgehogs 55.
We arrived at Datchworth with 16 players 13 of which were forwards giving the Captain a real headache as to who got to play in position and who had to try something different . In the end Gary Wearing volunteered to have a go at Full Back which made him the man of the Match before we started in my book and exemplified the attitude of a true Hedgehog who was willing to give it a go for the good of the team. This enabled us to leave Dermot out on the wing where he proved to be at his predatory best and also to slot in the "New Boy" John Gregory at second row. Now this season we have had a 167 year old front row and plenty of over 40s in the team but I would like to know if John Gregory is a club record holder for returning to his beloved game at the age of 61 years young ! He played a solid game in the loose and was no mug in the set piece giving the younger players around him the benefit of his experience and giving good support to the front row in some hotly contested scrums. I should like to thank Andy Lockley and Sam Underwood for joining the lesbians for the afternoon which they did with devastating affect linking up with the rest of the backs for a try fest. There were 9 unanswered tries with 5 of them scored by Dermot the pick of which was the final one which was a wild pass out to him from the Hooker which he collected high and then ran a mazy run right through the Datchworth defence leaving them flat footed with his speed and clever angles of running and touching down near the posts. This enabled Mark Tuner to finish off a fine afternoons work to score his 5th conversion to add to his own try earlier in the game. Mark Gibson was his usual Tigerish and aggresive self never letting the opposing forwards have any time to settle in to their game and capping his own game with a try. Kevin Lok scored a fine try after some deft work by the stand in lesbians inside him but still needing a bit of hard running to finish it off. Andy Lockley decided to get in on the act with another good try which came from a fine concerted effort from the rest of the backs . Having praised the backs this much I also have to mention that the forwards were dominant all over the pitch for the whole of the game and were responsible for quite a bit of turn over ball and also getting up in defence as soon as the opposition looked like they were constructing anything, I think I can safely say that Datchworth did not threaten our line once in the game and very seldom got inside our 22 which goes to show the commitment of all 15 Hogs ! Another good game from Barry James at scrum half keeping the lid on things when needed and bossing the forwards by keeping them in line with a few tongue lashings when necessary! I must mention Daniel Webber who was returning from injury and was good enough to play for Datchworth as they were short of front row which kept the sides even and made sure the scrums were contested , I know from playing in the front row that he did contest them giving Kev Edwards a decent work out all afternoon and being a thorn in our sides when he got the odd ball in the loose. A couple of contenders for the Dick of the day the first one being the Hooker (oh all right then me) for getting the line out calls wrong for the whole of the first half totally bemusing Rob Pankhurst and Michael Benson. Then on a restart kick by Datchworth at least 3 of us shouted the usual "put a name on it" followed closely by John Gregory shouting "mine" so from now on he will be known as John Mine ! Excellent effort all round so now lets see if we can keep this momentum going to the end of the season !
Team Kevin Edwards, Gary Hawtin, John Pines, Rob Pankhurst, Michael Benson, Mark Gibson, John Gregory, Simon Goodlad, Barry James, Mark Turner, Kevin Lok, Samuel Underwood, Gary Wearing, Dermot Coughlan, Andy Lockley
Subs Daniel Weller
Scores T: Dermot Coughlan (5), Mark Gibson (1), Andy Lockley (1), Mark Turner (1), Kevin Lok (1)
C: Mark Turner (5)
Player(s) of Match 1. Gary Wearing
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