U12s v Chess Valley, 27th Jan

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Nice folk,the team from Chess Valley, as befits a team who train and play by the magical River Chess, one of the ancient trout streams of England, in which your scribe has been known to have a dangle in times gone by.

They brought a squad of U12’s with a couple of U11’s mixed in and did extremely well in two games of open and committed rugby. Whilst they took a hammering in the first half of the first game, they only lost the second half by one score, and drew the second game.

Hitchin v Chess Valley Won 26 - 0
Tries: James A. (2) Euan (2). Conv: Harry (2) George (1)

1st Half

CV kicked off, and guess what, James A. perhaps with one eye on his vocal touchline support, powered around the opposition backs to score a swift first try which Harry converted. From the kick off Harry and Charlie set up good attacking positions with George putting in the early tackles. Strong mauling by Bryony and a drive by the pack release our backs, with Henry feeding to Mitchell and then to Euan who dived into the corner to score the first of his two tries. Harry again converted. It was one way traffic during this half, secure line out ball from Joe RG. enabling James Challis to feed George, who with deft handling and an eye for the gap passed to Euan, who put on the afterburners to streak in from halfway. The conversion was taken successfully by George. The lead of 21 – 0 at half time was looking daunting to CV side who were digging in.

2nd Half

CV regrouped at half time and clearly were not making up the numbers. The lad who survived the shuddering first tackle by Joe RG certainly knew he was in a game. The scrums were even with neither side getting a nudge on and it was a moment of opportunism that allowed James A. to take a short tap penalty and score. The conversion was missed, George hammering the cross bar, a more difficult feat than actually getting it over. There was good defensive work by Ashley, once again showing commitment in the tackle, and Callum showed good hands at full back. The second half was a much closer contest which was due to CV picking themselves up and getting stuck in – well done them.

Hitchin v Chess Valley Drew 14 – 14
Tries: Adrian. Bobby. Conversion: Harry (2).

1st Half

A change of personnel saw Mathew in at hooker, with Reece and Adrian making up the engine room in the second row. In the backs James Bourne dropped in at centre partnering Bobby, with Joe RG taking up the position of full back. With CV kicking off Hitchin gained early ground from Henry’s strong run and, with the ball going loose, Adrian swooped in with a one handed pickup to sprint in from half way – a popular score for a great chap. Harry maintained his 100% record in succeeding with the conversion. It was now that CV got their second wind, being held up over our line three times, only desperate defense preventing a score. It was from a rare break out that Hitchin drove to the CV line, where Bobby bullocked over from inches out. With the conversion that gave Hitchin a 14 – 0 lead going into the second half.

2nd Half

A great half of entertaining rugby, with CV definitely shading the honours and scoring two converted tries to earn a well deserved draw. There was no lack of effort from the Hitchin squad and overall an excellent level of competition from Chess Valley.

The gap continues to narrow between our two squads, engendering great competition for places. After a series of matches we now have a couple of weeks of training to work on our skills, in the run up to the last third of the season. There's still plenty to work on – see you at training.

It was also good to see Hannah supporting the team, broken metatarsal et al.

Player of the Week: Joe R-G