COLTS – Hitchin 10 Hemel Hempstead 24

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Well what we can say about the Colt’s Rugby on Sunday 23rd????
Hitchin Colts playing at home struggled to hold Hemel, scoring 2 tries to Hemels 4 losing 10-24 on a hot Sunday afternoon.

Great excitement came today as the opposition Hemel arrived a little late and asked for a 15 minute delay (traffic and trying to get some 28 players to arrive takes time) But with the sun shining and the ground still looking very good (now some three weeks into the season) a small noisy crowd gathered on the touch line looking forward to the Colts’ first game at home. Cooper running the line for the first time this season helped greatly where his vast experience was needed yet again.
Following Barking’s cup game the week before there were some forced changes to the side with Tom Lawman benched with an injured shoulder. On the positive side it allowed for a new looking front row line up with JP (appointed captain for the day), Andrew taking on the responsibilities of hooker and James moving up to prop. Following his outstanding display in the line at Barking, Khaled moved up to second row along with Christy who had been invited to play for the Colts for the first time = a well matched pairing that played well against a strong Hemel pack.
JP came back from the toss up saying we are kicking against the wind in the first half. So all agreed the first half would be the harder of the two halves and the game began at a frantic pace with Hemel showing their control by moving the ball wide several times to gain a well-worked try 7 minutes in but missing the conversion. Hitchin eager to move the ball kept good control for the next 12 minutes in which a run from George at fly half and Stewart at center put Tim wide on the wing with only Hemel’s winger and full back to beat but some 40m on he was forced into touch. Pressure was maintained with Rob, Johnny and Dominic flying from the scrums and line forcing the Hemel No. 10 all sorts of problems. Finally the pressure paid off and a recycled ball allowed the backs to give Paul a long run down the left this time to score in the corner unfortunately not converted. The teams were even until the 30th minute when Hemel forwards worked a well-rehearsed move allowing their backs to run the ball and score, this time converted. Hitchin took up again with runs now from Sam at full back, the backs putting Hemel centers under pressure and Andrew managing to deal very nicely with some ‘handbags’ from the opposition.. Despite very good covering play by Hemel’s back row, the Colts’ dogged determination won in the end with Barry setting up Stewart from a ruck allowing him to offload to Jesse at outside center, who really made his pace show for the first time with a storming run through Hemel’s line, running wide and suddenly cutting in between Hemel’s backs, side-stepping the full back to run round under the posts – a killer run. Unfortunately unconverted – damn wind!.
At half time the score was 10-12 to Hemel with both sides sensing victory.
The second half was a very different game with Hemel making key changes (they had enough players!!!) which found Hitchin struggling to get out of their half for the first 10 minutes, only good kicking from Barry and Sam kept Hemel at bay. Changes came 5 minutes in with Stewart having run unselfishly all game coming off with a bad foot sprain. This allowed Will Jeffries to play for the first time in a year and come in on the wing with Tim moving in to center. Will came in early to the game narrowly missing out on a scoring run by frantic defending by Hemel. Hitchin came right back into the game with the forwards getting more loose ball allowing Dominic to run free in the middle of the park with only the full back to beat some 30m out - only to lose the ball. Hitchin’s battered forwards were by now showing the strain. Daniel came on to replace Johnny at flanker and Matthew came on to replace Khaled forcing Andrew to move to second row. Both replacements spurred Hitchin on as for the next 15 minutes Hitchin kept Hemel in their half with astute kicking from Paul and Barry.
The break came with Hitchin kicking into Hemels 22, the ball being forced over the try line resulting in a drop out quickly taken by Hemel and a long kick chased down by their backs enabled them to score under the posts which was duly converted. Hemel’s game improved although Hitchin still maintained an even game but with time slowly passing, Hemel managed to break away and score their final try again with a well-worked move in open play.
Both sides came off knowing the game could have gone either way Hemel taking their chances, Hitchin missing theirs.
After the game Hitchin entertained Hemel in the clubhouse with some joint singing - ten green bottles (you need to see it to understand it!) – but James needs to improve his drinking losing dramatically to Hemel’s Captain!!
MAN OF THE MATCH: without a doubt Jesse Gerhard. His tackling was good, he took several hits including a bruising clash of heads in the second half but his magnificient run will be hard to beat and I doubt we’ll see better all season.
Coaches for the day Steve Shaw, Steve Bush & Paul Clark