Luton Match Report

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An excellent morning at Luton this Sunday and in my opinion the best we have played all season. Well done to all the players!! Also a big thank you to Tom for referring some matches and to Brian for running the Jaguars. We travelled to Luton with two teams and played in a triangular fixture with Luton and Northampton Casuals. Luton and Northampton had one side each, therefore we rotated things so all teams played each other, which meant each team played three matches during the morning. We also had the luxury of playing on two pitches, so this meant not too much waiting around!!

Hitchin Panthers v Luton: Won 8-6

This was an excellent start for the Panthers as they played some great attacking rugby, never letting Luton settle and they were always in control of the match. Two scores by Sam and Connor created an early lead and they never looked back. The first try by Sam was an excellent individual score and Connor’s try was created by a good pass from Milly, which gave him the space to score in the corner. Luton responded with a couple of quick scores, but we finished the half strongly with two excellent team tries. The first by Guy was created after some good running and passing by Rory and Ethan B. The second by Sam was an excellent try from our own half which involved all the players and was a perfect example of how well we can play with some great running, passing and support play. The second half was very similar to the first with the Panthers continuing their good play. Connor scored a good individual try from an excellent run to extend our lead and then he crossed for two further scores. The first following some fine running and support play by Naomh and Alex and the second was created by an excellent run from Ethan B and pass by Guy. We relaxed slightly and allowed Luton to grab two soft tries, but the win was sealed by an excellent individual try from Rory.

Hitchin Jaguars v Northampton Casuals: Won 6-5

The Jaguars played Northampton in their first game, and put in an excellent performance. Brian and Jez were with the Jaguars for this game, whilst Tom referred the match. They said that our attacking play was very good, in particular our passing and support play and we created some excellent tries. There were four tries for Harry, and a try a piece for Chris and Ethan L. We also defended well and there was some fine tagging by Holly, Jamie & Daniel.

Hitchin Panthers v Hitchin Jaguars: Panthers Won 6-5

The second round of matches meant Luton played Northampton so we arranged a game between our two teams. This was a really well contested game with both teams playing some excellent rugby. The Jaguars started the game well and quickly established a 0-2 lead with fine tries by Ethan L and Chris. However the Panthers responded and levelled the match with scores from Rory and Guy. There then was a period of play which particular pleased me as both teams played some fine rugby in both attack and defence. There was some excellent running and passing by Henry & Holly (Jaguars) and by Rory and Naomh (Panthers). Whilst in defence there was some good tagging on both sides in particular by Joshua, Alex and Milly. The Panthers continued to create chances and excellent support play resulted in tries for Guy and Ethan B, however the Jaguars did not give up and they came back just before half time when Chris and Ethan L scored two fine individual tries from excellent runs. The second half continued as the first with both teams playing good rugby. The Panthers started the half the better and created two further tries; a good team try for Sam and a fine individual try from Rory. The Jaguars responded when Daniel scored in the corner, but time was up and the Panthers held on.

Hitchin Panthers v Northampton Casuals: Won 8-3

The Panthers final game of the morning was another very good performance. The first half was very tight with both teams playing some good rugby. We scored three excellent individual tries by Ethan B, Naomh and Sam, with all three players making fine runs through the Northampton defence. Northampton did respond with two tries of their own so we had a slight 3-2 lead at the break. The second half however was a different story as we played some excellent rugby and outscored them five tries to one. We scored two good tries early in the half to extend our lead, the first was a fine team try for Ethan B, which was created by some good passing and support play by Guy, Connor and Milly. The second was a good individual try from Rory following an excellent pass by Alex. We then had a period where we had to defend well as Northampton had a lot of ball, however our defence was very good with Alex, Connor and Guy in particular making a number of tags. The importance of this defence was highlighted when on two occasions our good defence caused Northampton to knock the ball on close to our line, which resulted in us picking the ball up and scoring down the other end with tries by Connor and Sam. Northampton got a score back, but we finished the game with an excellent team try for Connor following a fine run from Naomh and good support play by Ethan B.

Hitchin Jaguars v Luton: Drew 4-4

The final Jaguars game was slightly frustrating as Luton asked to play 9 a side to give more of their players a run out, however the size of the pitch made it difficult for us to play the type of rugby we played in the first two games. However, this was still a good performance by the Jaguars as Luton had just beaten Northampton convincingly in their previous game. In fact the Jaguars were very close to winning the match as Luton levelled the scores late on. Luton started the game well and scored two early tries, however we responded well with Dylan scoring a good try following a fine pass by Ethan L. There then was a period of play where both teams created a number of chances but just could not finish. There was some good running by Daniel and Harry and some fine passing and support play by Holly and Chris. With Luton leading 1-2 at the break we had to play well in the second half to get back into the game and we did. Two excellent team tries from Daniel and Ethan L following some good support play by Henry and Dylan took us into the lead, but Luton levelled with a good try themselves. Then with only a few minutes to go Harry scored an excellent individual try running and dodging across the pitch two or three times before scoring in the corner. This we hoped would secure the win, but Luton grab a late try and we had to settle for a draw.

Tries: Ethan B (3), Connor (6), Harry (5), Ethan L (4), Chris (3), Daniel (2), Guy (3), Rory (4), Naomh, Dylan and Sam (5).

After a little blip last week we were back on fine form again this Sunday, with an excellent performance. Both teams played some really good rugby throughout the morning and the support play and passing were excellent. It is great to see the improvement all the players have made through the season and this was highlighted in the match between our two teams, which was a close fought excellent game with both teams showing a high standard of play.

‘Player of the Week’ was a tough choice this week as there were so many players who played well, however congratulations goes to Rory Fookes who won the award. Rory is one of our new players this year, but he has taken to rugby very quickly. He has put in some very good performances already this season and is improving every week. This week his all round play for the Panthers was excellent – he was heavily involved in all the matches, he scored four very good tries, passed and supported well and made a number of tags. I was particularly pleased to see him score two excellent individual scores following some great running and dodging, which is a new element to his game. Well done Rory – keep up the good work.

Sunday 23rd January

This Sunday there is training at the club, usual time 10.30 am.

See you on Sunday.

Regards

Andy Dudley
Hitchin U7’s Coach
07803 160382