Hitchin 2s 22 – Finchley 2s 3
With one eye on next weeks cup final……. between these same two sides………. the Hitchin 2s put down an early marker with a dominant display of rugby against a good Finchley opposition.
A warm day at King Georges with 3 home games and a good atmosphere around the club saw the Hitchin 2s back to full strength, the front row of Nathan Burns, Tommy Tidey and James ‘Nuts’ Bolter allowed the 2s captain (Lex) to return to his preferred 2nd row position (how nice it was to be back home!) and along with Phil Hobbs (1st half) and Jason Living (2nd half) the front 5 set such a strong platform that, from the first scrum, the result seemed a forgone conclusion.
When you add in a back row of ‘Vagazzle’ (Ian Thompson), Ed ‘beard watch’ Bellamy and Mike Starling then you know that the Finchley pack are now sitting at work this week looking for excuses why they aren’t available for next weeks cup game…………
(note to self at this stage…………..best keep the smug remarks till after next week as it would be embarrassing if things don’t go our way!)
There were a bunch of awesome backs assembled for the Hitchin 2s, and it’s no coincidence that the best performance of the season followed. To complete the line up we had Ryan Colclough at 9 (the 9th forward), Luton 10 (Michael Halliwell)…..showing early on that he knows how to play the ‘Hitchin 10’ way (note the yellow card coming up…….), a new centre partnership of Ryan Bloomfield and Robert King with a strong back line …….Ross Howard (now the bigger Howard brother and rumoured to be taking over the ‘big room’ at home), Ashley (eye brows back!) Cochrane and Simon Harding…..making his first start for Hitchin.
So before the game report its customary to deliver this weeks Beard Watch……and it is true ‘Gordon’s alive !!!’ the beard is now way past the early season George Michael inspired stubble and now displaying a magnitude of colours (ginger….all beards are in the end!), black, white and grey…..but somehow the coolest man in Hitchin still carries it off. Add in Hobsies ginger chin tuft and the game started with Lex opting for the scrum cap this week for two reasons:
- Jealous that his team mates taunt his inability to grow hair on his head by growing it all over their face too!
- Worried that, being such a sunny day, the reflective qualities of his ‘chosen’ hairstyle would cause issue for both sides.
Game starts…..Hitchin kick and Nuts levels their 2nd row. That pretty much sums up the next 80mins so if you want to skip to the end please do……I’ll just indulge myself with a few more details……..
First points to Finchley (and their last of the day) with a well taken penalty at around 4mins into the game. Hitchin learnt two things early on that were to set the tone for this win………..The referee (I don’t see why it’s relevant to mention that she was a lady ref….oh I just did!) was very clear when she asked for no talking back and no chat. This was an initial issue for a few ‘commentators’ in the side, who like to talk most referees through the finer elements of the game……but they soon got the message and the ref allowed a good game to flow.
Second lesson was that at every opportunity we should go for the scrum, with such dominance it was silly not to.
The first half continued in the Finchley half, good ball from Hitchin forwards being used well across a new back line who were just getting to know each other. On such a warm day many breaks for water were a must and most of these were followed with a scrum, Tommy winning all his ball and 75% of the oppositions, lineouts (yes we still had a 6 jumper option this week) was working well…..Hobbs, Lex and Vagazzle all taking good clean ball.
The only missing element was a Hitchin score and this was only a matter of time, credit to the side as they didn’t ‘rush’ the game and from a scrum 10mtrs out the Hitchin pack just decided to keep going………at 2nd row I reckon I saw the try line pass by at sprinting pace (well my sprinting pace anyway!) ……..Ed, took probably his easiest score of the season and just touched the ball down.
With no ‘kicker’ in the team we will ignore the conversion reports, Ashley got one at some stage, hit a post in another……the rest we best leave for now!
So half time came and 5-3 lead to Hitchin. Talk was all about delivering our game plan, a couple of substitutions (Jason and Ross Williams) but no change to the plan…..same again for 40mins and the points will come…………..
And they did………….
In the first half the forwards had decided that the assembled group of fine backs, soft as they are, had wanted to work on their tans (rather than get involved) but, at the start of the 2nd half, as the game got more stretched, they started to play and constantly broke the Finchley line…….Ryan and Robert playing hard attacking rugby and always up for the tackle when needed…………………Luton 10 however had decided that his Tan needed a bit more work and asked (in the way that Hitchin 10s tend to) the referee for a 10min rest……so down to 14 men and what to do………ummmm scum and score ?
A second Ed ‘beard’ Bellamy try off the back of a strong Hitchin pack performance and the confidence was starting to flow……as was the rugby, still at 14 men ‘Nuts’ decided that tighthead props are best matched vs opposition wingers in the corner……….fair call as the Finchley player (credit to him for even trying to tackle) decided to sit down (OK Nuts sat him down) across the line and Nuts was in……..game over and still 10 hot minutes to play (more water please)
Enter Hitchin’s equivalent of ‘the Stig’…….some say he is 7ft tall (when his legs are straightened) some say he roams Hitchin of an evening dressed in a ‘fitted’ bedsheet……we just know him as Club Captain Tiddles (two dd’s!)…….the next scrum and the Finchley No9 comment was ‘ah the old boy in at hooker……nice!’…….yep that was won against the head and Ryan Colclough (having a strong game) set up a series of ‘Rambos’ and the Hitchin team were moving up the field well……..time to shut out the game.
This next bit will only make sense to one man (at the club…..) but David King put a great pass in (probably his best of the season) and Hitchin scored their final points of the afternoon………………or (back in the real game)……..
Simon Harding intercepted a rare Finchley attack and raced the length of the pitch to score under the posts (note…..his first ever try!) and the game was done…..Hitchin 22 – Finchley 3
Man of the Match was very difficult to call, this really was a great team performance…..agreed by all as the best of the season. Most of the players, and watching spectators made the call that I (Lex) was the stand out player……probably true but I thought it bad form to nominate myself J so MOM went to ‘Nuts’…….Mr James Bolter, a great player and an awesome performance (easily the 2nd best player out there ………………….)
So onto next week, we will look forward to it and no doubt Finchley will be after revenge……they are a good side so we need to be on our game and step up from this week. It will be fun.
Team James Bolter, Thomas Tidey, Nathan Burns, Philip Hobbs, Richard Lucas, Michael Starling, Ian Thomson, Edward Bellamy, Ryan Colclough, Michael Halliwell, Ross Howard, Ryan Bloomfield, Robert King, Simon Harding, Ashley Cochrane
Subs Mark Tidey, Jason Livings, Ross Williams
Scores T: Edward Bellamy (2), Simon Harding (1), James Bolter (1)
C: Ashley Cochrane (1)
Player(s) of Match 1. James Bolter
The league: Herts Mddx Merit Table