Bedford U16 31 v Hitchin U16 8

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Here is our resident South African commentary of the match –

Definitely a game of two half's.

Straight from the kick of we dominated the game up front, Steve hoisted an nice high kick off and Gary smashed into the Bedford player as he caught the ball causing him to spill the ball, was it going to be another Ealing, unfortunately no we weren’t quite able to hold onto the loose ball. Steve and the rest of the backs also dominated there opposite number. That is as long as we did not give them any space and pressed up tight on them. Then 10 minutes into the game they get the break and swing it out wide, their winger just caught it with one hand and on the hip and with him not being pressed he was able to score in the corner, Hitchin to their credit immediately came back to camp in the Bedford half. With the forwards pressuring Bedford at every breakdown in play, at last the Ref penalised Bedford for killing the ball and Chris took the 3 points. From the kick off we put more pressure on and camped in there half. The forwards at this time were awesome, totally dominating all aspects of the game. It paid off and about 10 minutes from half time we catch at a line out and roll the ball on towards Bedfords line where George breaks away to score carrying 2 Bedford players over with him.

Then halftime, team talk was all about carry on doing what we had been doing in the 1st half. Callum came on for Josh. Hitchin absorbed a fair bit of pressure from Bedford but with an opportunity to break out a mis-placed pass led to Bedford scoring. From then on things did not quite go to plan, we pressured Bedford but due to missed tackles Bedford broke away a couple of times to score. Then as Bedford had totally replaced their front row at half time tiredness in the forwards allowed Bedford to start to dominate and tries were scored around the rucks and mauls.

What went wrong? We were not prepared to put our bodies on the line, doing silly kicks out of hand into the hand of their backs and then having to defend it, missed tackle's and not enough commitment from some players.

Gary: As captain very good and lead by example. All over the park.
Joe: Played his normal self. Body and soul. Good running and defending
Josh: Probably not his best performance but still prepared to put his boy on the line
Andy: Good in the line out and made some good driving runs.
Christie: Commitment excellent – (gave up a ticket for the All Blacks match) Good kicking from him and hard running
Dan: Good line out and commitment
Duane: Did a few good tackle's and always there at the breakdown
George: Played like a county player. All over
Elliot: Played well but at times made it very hard for Steve.
Steve: Had an excellent all round game, made some good plays and took every opportunity to break through the gap.
Reece: Started very well, taking the ball up and making the holes. Second half went to sleep – calf injury
Will A: Some outstanding tackling today
Reggie: Definitely out of place on the wing, but did his best. As always his running is all over the park.
Ben: Should have stayed in bed
Will J: Some of the best individual play I have seen in a long time. With support he could have scored a few today, came off with cramp??
Robbie: Went on as sub in the centre. Tried but found it hard but still gave 100%
Tom M: Filled in at fly half, difficult for him but gave 100%
Matt: Did not have the speed but gave 100%, and hung onto Bedfords speedy winger until help arrived.
Callum: Scrapping for the ball all over the park.

M of M - Joe - excellent all round game including getting back to intercept what would havebeen a try scoring pass.

Special mention - Steve - led the back line with authority and when he moved back to full back he was able to read the space to run into.