U14 Match Report: Saturday 24th March 2012
Herts Junior County 10’s Tournament
Squad: Ashley, Ben F, Benji, Dan B, Dan C, Dan H, Freddie, Frazer, Jordan, Max, Ollie M, Ollie P, Saiful, Sam, Will
Hertford RFC are our hosts on this beautifully sunny and warm Saturday morning for the Herts Junior County 10’s Tournament. We have four fast-moving games to play against Welwyn, Stevenage, Cheshunt and Hertford B this morning.
Game 1 - Hitchin (5) vs Welwyn (5)
Tries (1): Saiful (1)
Cons (0):
Hitchin kick-off but Welwyn maintain possession of the ball and dominate the first half progressing slowly but surely into our territory. We defend valiantly but eventually Welwyn break-through to secure a try in the corner. The corresponding drop-kick conversion falls short leaving the score 5-0 at half-time.
Welwyn start the second half with a deep kick into our territory but this time Hitchin maintain control of the ball for most of this half. Freddie, Ashley and Sam make good ground against some stiff opposition but eventually Saiful gets a break and rockets across half the pitch with Welwyn in hot pursuit to score a try in the centre of Welwyn’s posts. Sadly, we miss the deciding drop-kick conversion giving us a 5-5 final score.
Game 2 - Hitchin (34) vs Stevenage (0)
Tries (6): Dan H(1), Ashley (1), Dan C (1), Saiful (1), Freddie (2)
Cons (2): Benji (1), Dan C (1)
Hitchin kick-off and we soon recover possession of the ball. Saiful sets up our first try with Dan H maintaining momentum to complete. No conversion. Stevenage restart but we’re soon passing down the line to Ashley to run down the line and score try 2. No conversion. Dan C completes the first half with a try in the corner – but we still haven’t got the hang of these drop-kick conversions.
Stevenage start the second half off. Dan H sets up try 4 with Saiful completing and Benji converts! We restart and rapidly regain possession of the ball. It’s passed out to Freddie who powers through the opposition to score try 5 in the corner. No conversion. We restart again and engage Stevenage with some great tackling. Freddie secures the ball to score try 6 and Dan C completes with a successful drop-kick conversion. Final score Hitchin 34 – Stevenage 0.
Game 3 - Hitchin (15) vs Cheshunt (10)
Tries (3): Max (1), Benji (1), Saiful (1)
Cons (0):
Cheshunt kick-off the first half and we’re soon engaged in a succession of knock-on scrums. Our first breakthrough comes after some great passing down-the-line giving Max the chance to run the wing and score try 1 in the corner. No conversion. We restart and we’re soon back in Cheshunt’s half. A scrum near the try line gives Benji a chance to steal the ball from the back of the scrum and score try 2. No conversion leaves the half-time score at Hitchin 10 – Cheshunt 0.
Cheshunt return in the second-half with a vengeance. On a mission they soon rack up their first try following a penalty but miss the conversion. They restart and are soon back in our half securing a scrum near our try line. One of Cheshunt’s backs snatches the ball from the scrum and scores their equalising try – but they miss the conversion. The game now notches up a level as both teams battle it out to win. Eventually Saiful breaks through Cheshunt’s defences to score the deciding third try! No conversion keeps the final score at Hitchin 15 – Cheshunt 10.
Game 4 - Hitchin (57) vs Hertford B (0)
Tries (9): Saiful (4), Ollie M (1), Dan C (2), Dan H (1), Max (1)
Cons (6): Dan C (5), Ollie M (1)
You would have thought by now that our lads would be exhausted with all that running around in warm Spring temperatures – but no, our final game against Hertford B opened up a major try-fest to round off the tournament! I’m not sure if Hertford B knew what hit them – or maybe they were simply exhausted. It’s virtually impossible to write this game up! We scored 57 points in a 14 minute game – that’s an average of 4 points a minute! So you can imagine how fast this game went! Our lads simply outpaced Hertford B with some amazing runs resulting in centre of the posts tries. Saiful secured four of these tries with Ollie M, Dan C, Dan H and Max notching up tries. We also got to grips with the drop-kick conversions with Dan C securing 5 of these – and even Ollie M booting in a left-footed conversion!
A truly entertaining tournament – with some amazing teamwork delivering superb results. Welwyn ultimately won the tournament on points difference - with Hitchin as worthy runners-up. This will make for an interesting quarter-final game in the Herts County Plate against Welwyn in a few weeks’ time!