U14s - Datchworth 7 Hitchin 24

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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

Even under some early pressure from Datchworth around our 22, we defended solidly and allowed time for Callam Mac to break and clear to their 22. From the resulting set piece and some great forward and back interplay we managed to create space for Callum T to drive over in the corner from 5 m.

However from the re start we once again let Datchworth put us under pressure well into our own half, which was interspersed with handling errors from both sides. Once again the situation was steadied by a good clearance from Callum Mac to the halfway line. A great line out against the head allowed us to control our forward advance and win a scrum on their 22. Once again all the lads have shown that size really doesn’t matter when it comes to aggressive scrimmaging. In fact Stewart proved that point even further when we caught him having a pee in the hedge later in the game!! After a series of scrums we took control for Callum T to pick up from the base and once again drive over from 10m to score under the posts. Jordan successfully converted to make the score 12:0

Immediately from the kick off we made a great counter attack, allowing Zander to create space on the blind side and make a huge ground gain, which was well set up to allow quick second phase ball. Sadly even after some great work by the backs, we had a knock-on at the last pass to give Datchworth a lucky break and a scrum on their 5 m line. Thankfully though our pressure on that scrum made it very untidy for them and the loose ball was stolen by Zander and he dropped over the line to score a well deserved try. Jordan converts well again to make the score 19:0 at half time.

Once again it was a full blooded start by our lads straight from the second half kick off and we were unlucky not to score again in the corner after some great running by the backs. Even though Datchworth cleared their lines Hitchin won a penalty just inside their half which Callum Mac took quickly and made the most of the great forward support to drive on and set up superb 2nd phase ball for Callum T to pick and score his hat trick try.

In fairness to our opposition their large pack came back into the game later in the game and made the most of the downhill advantage and managed to blemish our clean sheet with a well worked forwards try under the post to make a final score of 24:7.

We have made some well laid foundations for a good season and some further preparation this week should make for a great start to our league fixtures.