A warm welcome to St. Neots despite the weather

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

Hitchin 8 - St Neots 5
Hitchin started this game at a fantastic pace....Sam stormed down the wing and before being tagged, pass to Harry L who was perfectly positioned to get the first try. Some great team defensive work kept St Neots at bay, with noticeable effort from Rhys and Ben whose determination forced a turnover after the 6th tag. After a great run from Ben, Niall stepped over the line to put Hitchin two ahead. More excellent defensive work from Sam and Iago lead to another turnover which was punished by Harry L again with a strong individual run from the halfway line. Almost immediately, Niall showing quick reactions, picked up a loose ball and got his second try of the game. The half time score was an impressive 4 - 0 to Hitchin. After a bit of an extended break, St Neots started the second half strongly and found their form, tagging well and earning turnovers. They scored three tries in quick succession but another great supporting run from Harry L after Sam had carried the ball some distance, saw him grab a hat trick. Harry followed this up with a side stepping blast from within the St Neots half to keep us two ahead. More excellent defensive work from Ben, Alex and Iago kept St Neots from scoring and Iago managed to get the ball over the line for Hitchin's seventh try. A final one from Harry L, again a bit of a solo effort gave Hitchin a well deserved win over a very good and sporting St Neots side.
Special mention to Ben who played for St Neots to make their numbers up and played really well for them with some strong straight runs and good team play.
Tries - Harry L - 5
Niall - 2
Iago - 1

Hitchin 7 - St Neots 12.(notes from Charles - thanks)
Hitchin went 2 nil down very quickly and then had a try disallowed from a forward pass but following a great run from Elliot, Jordan pulled a try back. Alfie then added to this with his trade mark zig zag run down the wing, but unfortunately we went further behind despite some good tagging from Elliot. Just before half time, Elliot added to our score. Unfortunately, St Neots made far fewer mistakes than Hitchin in this game and were able to win turnovers giving them a very good lead at half time, however, Elliot again scored with Alfie getting his second soon after. St Neots never let the lead get away from them and matched us for tries. Jordan scored again but they came straight back and Harry D got our final one.
Tries - Alfie 2
Elliot 2
Jordan 2
Harry D - 1

Many thanks to Jill (and Charles) for the match reports (Jill was very apologetic for not covering all the games)

'Coach's Comments'

World Cup fever over - but parents and players still turned up, despite the rain and cold - well done one and all!!

Very good team and individual performances today by both the LIONS and TIGERS.

I was particularly proud of my two captains today; Alfie and Harry L - two excellent 'Captains performances' and LOUD vocal communication as well - brilliant!

The POSITIVES today were the excellent FORWARD RUNNING and I was particularly impressed with some of the SIDE STEPS!!

Also, we really are getting to grips with the 'DEFENCE' positions (1,2,3,4,5,6,7) and the 'ARROW' attack position - keep it up.

The 'DEFENCE' position allows us to be ready when the other team attack us. We got a lot more tags today and that is really good. We just need to remember to FILL THE GAPS, if there is a space when we are being attacked it is YOUR job to fill it.

Also, BE READY; when the referee blows the whistle you must focus on getting the TAGS. You should already be in your 'DEFENCE' position.

The 'ARROW' attack position sets us up to attack either to the left or to the right. Just remember to SPREAD OUT so we can use more of the pitch when we attack.

Two areas we need to work on are getting ONSIDE - We MUST be between the other teams player with the BALL and OUR try line before we can TAG.

Secondly, we must SUPPORT our person with the ball when we are attacking - on their SHOULDER ready for a QUICK PASS if they are tagged. ONE PERSON on their LEFT SHOULDER and ONE on their RIGHT SHOULDER.

All in all, I was very pleased with today's performances and two very good wins against St. Neots - Well done.

Player of the Week was a very difficult decision this week with a number of notable performances - I would particularly like to mention Ben L who helped out by playing for St. Neots and did Hitchin RFC proud. However, it was a unanimous decision by the coaches that the player who demonstrated the biggest improvement with his support play and tagging, as well as strong running was JONATHAN - Well done, we'll miss you next week!

Next week we are at Ampthill. Simon will put the details on the web site during the week so please log on.

One last request for parents; PLEASE

Notify Simon, by e-mail or phone, of your son or daughters availability for matches by WEDNESDAY of each match week.
Make sure you arrive at the requested arrival & warm up time.
I am sure you'll appreciate a lot of planning goes into the matches and it makes it difficult for us if we are either chasing around to make up a team or players turn up unexpectedly for matches that we hadn't planned for.

In respect of arrival time, it is important that all the children are warmed up properly to prevent injuries during the games. To date I have allowed players arriving late to still play, though in future if they are not involved in the full warm up I will have to leave them out of the first match. I am sure you'll appreciate it is in their best interests that they turn up on time.

Thank you and I'll see you at Ampthill.

Eric

Plan is to be at Ampthill for about 9.45. Looking at availablity, we will pick teams. Unfortunately we may not be able to play everyone this week (we were hoping to have 3 teams but we don't have enough). As Eric had asked, please let me have your availability for next week. Going forward, we will try and work on the basis that you are available and that you will tell me if you are not.

Directions for Ampthill are found through the following link:

See you Sunday
Simon