St.Neots Match Report

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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 Panthers v St. Neots: Won 7-3

A good start to the morning with a very good all round performance by the Panthers. In an even first half excellent team play created two early tries for Holly, with good support play by Connor & Rory. This was followed by two good individual scores by Ethan B, which gave the team a 4-3 half time lead. In the second half we defended really well and prevented any further St. Neots scores with good tagging by Holly & Guy. We also attacked well with some good runs from Laurence and created three excellent tries for Connor & Ethan B (2).

Hitchin Jaguars v St. Neots: Lost 3-5

In our second game St. Neots had the advantage of having already played a game and this showed as they played well in the first half and led 0-3 at half time. However, we did show some good attacking play with some fine runs by Ethan L, Harry & Henry and we unfortunately had two tries disallowed for diving to score and also running with the ball in one hand (we must remember – do not dive for the try & two hands all the time on the ball). The second half was better and the team started to play more as a team with some excellent passing and support play by Dylan, George & Naomh, which created three good tries for Ethan L & Sam (2).

Hitchin Panthers v Hitchin Jaguars: Panthers Won 4-2

The two Hitchin teams played each other in the third game and this was an excellent close match with both teams playing some good rugby. In the first half there were two fine individual scores by Ethan L for the Jaguars and a good team score for the Panthers by Rory. There was also some very good passing and running by Ben, Euan & Holly and some good tagging by George & Cameron. In the second half the Panthers took their chances well and scored three excellent team tries for Connor & Ethan B (2).

Hitchin v St. Neots: Won 9-3

We mixed the teams up for the last two games and in this game we fielded a more experienced team. This extra experience showed as we put together an excellent performance and won this game very convincingly. There was some very good attacking play in the first half with some fine running by Ethan L, Naomh & Holly and some excellent support play by Connor & Guy, which created four excellent tries for Connor (2) and Ethan B (2). The second half we made some changes but the team continued their good play, with some good runs by Harry and some excellent tagging in defence by Dylan & Sam. There were a further five tries scored by Ethan L, Connor & Ethan B (3).

Hitchin v St. Neots: Lost 2-4

The final game of the morning was a close match. We started the game well and there was some good support and passing by George & Laurence, which created a good team try for Rory. There was also some fine running by Ethan L & Rory. However, we then seemed to run out of steam after a long morning. St. Neots had a lot of possession and we had to defend well with some good tagging by Euan, Holly & Henry. Ethan L scored a good try, but two late scores by St. Neots meant they ran out winners.

Tries: Ethan B (10), Connor (6), Sam (2), Rory (2), Ethan L (5), Holly (2)

Overall this was another successful morning. We won two games convincingly and narrowly lost the other two against a strong St. Neots team. I was pleased we were able to field two teams and therefore we were able introduce even more new players. We purposefully mixed the two teams initially in order to help the new players and I was pleased with how they settled in. I was also pleased with how the more experienced players are developing especially in the third game against St. Neots where we played some excellent rugby. However, we must still all remember to stay on our feet when we score a try and also we must always run with the ball in two hands !!!!!

Congratulations go to Rory, Harry, Euan, Ben and Cameron who played their first game for us and I hope you all enjoyed yourselves.

Player of the Week was a difficult decision this week as there were a number of very good performances. Ethan B scored a remarkable 10 tries, Connor & Sam did some fantastic tagging saving a number of tries, Ethan L did some excellent running and their was some very good passing & support play by Rory. However, this week’s award goes to Holly Pomfret who had an excellent all round performance. Holly scored two tries, created others with good support play and did some excellent defensive work. Holly is one of our experienced players but I think her performance today was the best I have seen her play – well done.

Next week, Sunday 4th November we have an away fixture at Ampthill (please see separate details on website). Unfortunately there will be no training at the club. The next training session will be Sunday 11th November.

Well done to all the players and I will see you on Sunday.

Regards

Andy Dudley
Hitchin U7’s Coach
07803 160382