Ruislip 12-29 Hitchin
Hitchin travelled to Ruislip, seeking a first away win of the season that would see them leapfrog their 6th placed opponents.
The Hedgehogs made the best possible start. On the second phase after a lineout, Captain James Bolter darted through a gap at the fringe of a ruck, making 20 metres before passing to Flanker Callum Cload, who rounded the Full Back to score the opening try after 3 minutes.
Hitchin threw away an opportunity from an attacking lineout, and Ruislip grew into the match, a dominant pack giving them a penalty to advance up the pitch. Despite a knock on, the Ruislip pack won a scrum against the feed, and the number 8 surged through 2 tackles to score a try, converted for a 7-5 lead.
Fly Half Ben Wiggins came close to scoring, fly hacking through his own kick and narrowly losing the chase to the loose ball over the try line. The next points came from Wiggins' boot, when he kicked a penalty through the posts from inside the 22.
With 2 minutes of the half to go another penalty was awarded to Hitchin inside the Ruislip 22, but this time the kick at goal sailed wide. Halftime score Ruislip 7-8 Hitchin.
Playing uphill in the second half, Hitchin made a poor start, and would have conceded had the Ruislip winger not knocked on when unopposed 5 metres out.
This seemed to shock Hitchin into action, as a spell of 15 minutes of excellent play ultimately decided the match in their favour.
Bolter feinted a pass and gave Hitchin forward momentum. Scrum Half Dan Wiggins found Inside Centre Simon Taylor on a hard line, and Taylor stretched out to cross the try line.
Ruislip spilt a high ball, and a subsequent high tackle allowed Ben Wiggins to kick to touch inside the 22. As play worked to the right edge and back to the posts, Ben Wiggins lifted a short pass to Flanker Ruiri Shanahan at full pace, who broke the line to score Hitchin's third try.
The bonus point try was secured soon after. Dan Wiggins dinked through a delicate kick, which the blindside defender and the full back failed to collect, and Cload hacked through to touch down over the try line. Ben Wiigins converted all three tries to give Hitchin a 29-7 lead.
Ruislip pressed hard to get back into the match, but frequently coughed up handling errors when in threatening positions.
With 10 minutes to play, Ben Wiggins made a line break and offloaded to Outside Centre Jaden Elley-Murphy, who was thwarted by a last ditch tackle. Despite territorial pressure, Hitchin were unable to add to their lead, and with the final play Ruislip scored a consolation try after working an overload on the left edge. Final score Ruislip 12-29 Hitchin.
Hitchin climb to 6th place in Counties 1 Herts/Middlesex, and take a week off before travelling to Hackney Marshes to face 5th placed Old Streetonians on Saturday 2nd December.
Team Thomas Brown, Gary Ayres, James Bolter, Chris Mills, Jonathan Welsford, Ruiri Shanahan, Callum Cload, Frazer McGown, Daniel Wiggins, Benjamin Wiggins, Greg Ranson, Simon Taylor, Jaden Elley-Murphy, Jack Maydom, Elliot Gibson
Subs Jonny Robertson, David Hallendorff, Ryan Godfrey, Ian Crompton, Gavin McLeod
Scores T: Callum Cload (2), Simon Taylor (1), Ruiri Shanahan (1)
C: Benjamin Wiggins (3)
P: Benjamin Wiggins (1)
The league: Counties 1 Herts/Middx