October 2007 News Archives

The following Squads have been selected for Sat 3 Nov

Another hard day at the office for the forward pack, which over a series of three matches broke down the St Neots game and convincingly won the contact area. The backs organised themselves well too with some good passing and running which on another day might have resulted in a set of scorelines more reflective of the actual performance. The squad deserves credit for maintaining discipline throughout the day.

This week, Sunday 4th November we have a fixture away at Ampthill and we are able to take two teams. The teams have been selected as below:-

HITCHIN PANTHERS – Alex Baber-Norris, Ethan Brace, Connor Dudley, Rory Fookes, Sam Henshaw, Guy Honnywill, Holly Pomfret and Naomh Taylor.

HITCHIN JAGUARS – Dylan Crofton, Laurence Hidle, Chris Holes, Harry Hughes, George Lanyon, Ben Lowes, Jamie Naylor, Gregory Orman-Brown, Henry Tucker and Emilia Reece-Jones.

Sunday 28th October – St. Neots

Today we played our first home fixture against a very good St. Neots team. We were able to field two teams which allowed us to introduce a number of our new players to their first games. St. Neots only brought one team so we initially played a three team triangular tournament and then finished with two further games.

Hitchin went down to a late try against West London on Saturday. The game started brightly for Hitchin with the ball being moved across the pitch and it was only an infringement by the West London forwards that brought an early try scoring opportunity to an end

Our first home match of the season gave us the opportunity to play two games against a good St Neots’ squad of 14. The first game was for our strongest side while the second gave our less experienced players a good run out and allowed others to try new positions.

St. Neots bring 2 teams (with a little help from Ben)

Having not played Barnet for 2 years Hitchin didn’t know what to expect. Weather conditions were poor, a cross wind and heavy rain meant that Hitchin were going to have to play a tight forward game. Hitchin started well with a massive tackle from Duane, unfortunately the recipient appeared badly hurt and had to leave the pitch

On a miserable, windy and exposed ground we took to the pitch against what was predicted to be an improved Stockwood Park side. Certainly for the first few minutes they managed to contain our lads, with much of the game made up of midfield interplay with possession changing hands regularly, mainly due to some poor handling.

U10's mauled to death by St Neots

The following Teams have been selected for Sat 27 Oct.

I understand there was another good training session on Sunday. A big thank you to Tom for running the session and thank you to all the parents who helped.

Player of the week
This week’s award goes to one of our new younger players called Michael. The reason Michael was chosen was that he showed great enthusiasm, improved his skill levels throughout the session and performed well in the different tasks especially against some of the older players.

With much of the discussion on Sunday about the "try", feet were however, firmly back on the ground (or were they in touch?)

Mr. Frisch’s quote “At last, they played as a team!”
Today was Pyjama Day, as opposed to Yellow Day last week and Pink Day the week before.

The Rugby World Cup Final will be shown on the big screen with reduced beer prices between 18.00 and 20.00

We had a good training session this week, so well done to all the players. A big thank you to Rob, Andy, Jez and the other parents who helped out during the session.

Congratulations go to George Lanyon who won the ‘Player of the Week’ award. George showed good evasion and tagging skills in the Rugby IT and Scarecrow Tag sessions and also performed really well in the game situation, especially as he is one of the younger members of the squad. He also paid attention and listened throughout the session, which is helping him improve as a player.

'Coach's Comments'

The following sides have been selected for Saturday 20th October :

All players are required to bring an umbrella or make a £1 donation to the tour fund

Anyway, we travelled to Watford for our first ever league match with our spirits high. Some people still had quite a high level of spirits from the night before anyway.

Sunday saw Hitchin ladies second victory this year, and a win in their first league match

A feast of running rugby saw St Neots soundly beaten though admittedly there were a couple of 'guests' in the team

Hitchin U17’s arrived at Cheshunt with only 15 players having had guys withdraw during the week. George had had a great time at his mothers birthday and was unfit to play. We played Cheshunt last year and lost to them, however the lads in warm up looked sharp and were keen to start well.

The following teams have been selected for Sat 13 Oct

One of those strange triangulars, when each team comprehensively won one and then lost one. On the back of some really well built team matchplay - rucking, mauling, driving through the phases, passing - basically, the whole team thing, the first Hitchin U11 win of the season came giving us the upper hand for the day.

To quote Mr. Frisch “500% better than last week”!!! Praise indeed. Build on this lads and you’ll find that winning streak.

We were too late to publish a match report for last week. Probably just as well.

Well, we arrived and got ready for the early kick off only to receive a phone call from Harlow asking us if we were turning up? They thought they were the home side....

Another fine performance at Milton Keynes this week and the standard of play for only our second fixture of the season was excellent – well done to all the players. We won both our main matches against Milton Keynes and Kettering and then also played another two shorter duration games which we drew and won. So in total for our mornings work we had a played 4, won 3 and drew 1 record.

Two Teams Two Fine Performances!

Mixed results on a morning that highlighted some areas for improvement.

U10's fail to match England's victory V Australia.

Hitchin were playing in the changed strip of yellow and blue, and although the shirts were senior sizes a lot of them were too small. Whilst going through the pre-match warm up it was immediately evident that Hitchin were up for the game, having lost to Ruislip in the league last season. That being said the lads were very much aware that they are a better more balanced side this year

The following will be representing the club this Sunday at Milton Keynes

Here are the Teams for Sunday:

The following teams have been selected for Saturday 6th October

After conceding 14 points in the first 20 mins to some rumbling Old Merchant Taylors’ forwards play. Hitchin responded to the challenge they had given them selves by upping the tempo of the game.

This Sunday we have a fixture at Milton Keynes and the following players have been selected for this fixture: Alex Baber-Norris, Ethan Brace, Dylan Crofton, Connor Dudley, Sam Henshaw, Guy Honnywill, George Lanyon, Holly Pomfret and Naomh Taylor

A big well done to all the players involved at Letchworth. The team did really well during the day and surpassed my expectations. We played 4 matches, won 2, drew 1 and lost 1, but the most pleasing aspect was how the team improved throughout the festival to a point where in our last game we played some excellent attacking and defensive rugby. All the players contributed and it is a great starting point for the rest of the season.

Great news.......

One of those days that proved the adage that the stats don't tell the whole story. Our original plans to experiment with the positions in the side were confounded somewhat by Stevenage not turning up. This also meant inevitably that some players would get less of an opportunity to play than hoped, but it's only the start of what should be a long season.

On another crisp and sunny morning our boys continued their more confident approach to the game and settled in quickly to a rhythm which lasted for most of the game

Weeks' of practice pay dividends......

The U9 take the North Herts Rugby Festival at Letchworth due to their superior tackling. Confident tackling denied all our opposition on Sunday from long periods of possession culminating in three wins and a draw to lift the trophy.

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