Halloween horror.

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U10's mauled to death by St Neots

A small squad of large St Neots players arrived on a drab autumnal morning to put Hitchin U10’s to the sword. Their coach remarked upon our large squad, but we must commend their small, but well drilled squad. The extra hour for the end of BST, allowed me to knock up…(steady!) some Pumpkin soup, from the innards of “Fred”, the Bourne pumpkin, later to be crowned king of the club, in the Halloween competition. The U10’s probably felt like pulp, after the St N players had finished with them!

Game 1
Hitchin A 0 v 5 St Neots (lost)Ashley, Aless, Christian, Daniel, George, Jack, Laurence, Max, Oliver P, Tom

Laurence made a late entry just in time to add his bulk to the front row, as we were short on front row players. (10 press ups needed for him) St Neots style was evident from the off, with strong mauls allowing them to be driven over for 2 early tries. 0-2. Christian had been primed to tackle the St N speedster and got him well. Tom, unusually sporting a scrum cap, seemed to take heart from this and put in another cruncher. Better play from Hitchin followed, leading to a sad moment. Ashley tackled the speedster (a very talented player with a very short fuse), only to be struck back a couple of times as he lay on the ground. Full dues to the St N coach, who immediately pulled this player off the field, with an earful. We held on well, until a situation with Ashley and Christian on the line, led to a stolen ball. 0-3 at HT.
2 more tries followed in the 2nd half, with Hitchin unable to gain any fluidity. They certainly took “a mauling”!

Game 2
Hitchin B 0 v 8 St Neots. (lost)Aaron, Andrew, Bradley, Maitiu (sounds like Mattew?)Oliver S, Russell, Sam C, Sam J, William.
This H team had 5 rookies, some of whom were playing their first games. St Neots made a few changes, but most of the first team stayed on. The mauling game seen in the first game was seen again and despite good moments from Bradley (run) and William (tackle) it was 0-4 at HT. (Speedy was now back in the team having cooled off). More of the same in the 2nd half, with strong running from the St N backs adding to the forward power. Oliver S put in a good tackle but poor Maitiu was stood on by the ref at a lineout! 0-8 at FT, but the rookies had done very well.

Game 3
Hitchin 1 (hooray!) v 6 St Neots (lost, but we scored)
1st half Aaron, George, Jack, Laurence, Maitiu, Max, Oliver S, Sam C, Toby, Tom.
2nd half. Aless, Ashley, Bradley, Christian, Daniel, George, Oliver P, Russell, William.
The rain was now adding to our woes and more tries rained down on us. Max tried a despairing tackle but missed, Tom inspired by financial bribery, made a great tackle on speedy (Rhys). Even the ref struggled to keep up, as when play broke from a ruck, he was unaware and still watching for the ball to emerge. Needless to say, we then conceded a score. 0-4 at HT. All change for us after the break and ……….A HOME TRY! Christian somehow made it in at the far corner. 1-6 at the end.
Crumbs of comfort? Hard to find, but this St Neots team are big, fast and well trained. The coaches are a pleasure to be with and their supporters fair. We did blood a number of new players and they will be better for the experience. Tom gained player of the week for the A’s, for his destructive tackling. Aaron got it for the Bs for good commitment in his running. I know the coaches will be devising strategies as I write, but in my humble opinion, we need to develop our own style of play, maybe based on a quicker rucking game, to get away from these big forwards seen today and get our elusive backs into space. Passing down the line was minimal today, but it is hard to play without the ball. It’s straight back into the hot pan next week, as we travel to Ampthill for another tough game. Hopefully, we can improve on today’s showing.