Old Albanians Match Report

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On Sunday, we competed against one of the best clubs in Hertfordshire, Old Albanians (OAs), and we acquitted ourselves very well. We thought we had a lot of players; however they have over 100 children, 6 teams, 12 coaches and 3 pitches just for the U7 age group!! Nonetheless we turned up with two teams and gave them four good games in a thoroughly enjoyable morning which, with a bit of luck and a few ref decisions going our way, might have been even better.

OAs have three streams of players at the U7 age group, with each stream having two teams. Our Panthers team played their two A teams, our Jaguars played their two B teams and Watford (who also turned up) played their C teams. This meant that both our teams got two matches each during the morning.

Hitchin Panthers v Old Albanians A (Orange): Lost 6-8
The Panthers started slowly in their first game as it took them time to get used to the very large pitch, lack of coned pitch markings and the good and pacey opposition. In the first half we made too many mistakes, ran out of play and missed some tags which gifted OAs a few scores. However we responded really well in the second half and came back strongly. OAs scored two early tries to create a 0-2 lead but the Panthers hit back when Rory scored a good team try following fine passing and support play by Milly & Ethan B. Three further tries by OAs stretched their lead; however an excellent try by Connor just before half time after good running and passing by Rory & Sam meant we turned around 2-5 down. The second half was far better as the Panthers got used to the pace of the game and started to play some excellent rugby. We grabbed two quick tries at the start of the half; the first by Connor following an excellent pass by Holly and the second was a well worked team try for Guy after good support play by Alex and Sam. OAs responded with two tries of their own but we defended better and made them work for their scores with good tagging by Guy, Alex and Connor. We then came back again and reduced their lead to 6-7 when we created two tries for Connor, the first an excellent individual run and the second a fine team try with good support and passing by Milly and Ethan B. Unfortunately OAs had the final score with the last play of the match to secure the win.

Hitchin Panthers v Old Albanians A (Green): Drew 7-7

The second Panthers game was a better all round performance and if a few decisions had gone our way we would have inflicted OAs first defeat of the season. Unfortunately it was not meant to be! Both teams started the game well and played some excellent attacking rugby, utilising the space on the pitch to create two good tries each. Our scores came from Connor, as he was on hand to finish off two excellent passages of play with good support, passing and running by Milly, Sam and Rory. Then we scored two further tries to create a 4-2 lead, the first by Ethan B was an excellent individual try and the second by Guy was a fine team try following good running and passing by Holly and Alex. OAs grabbed a score back but then on the stroke of half time we had a try by Sam ruled out for some unexplained reason (a mystery to all Hitchin players, coaches and supporters), so we went in at half time 4-3 ahead. In the second half OAs came at us hard and played some excellent rugby. Although we defended well in places with good tagging by Connor and Guy, we could not prevent them scoring two tries and gaining the initiative. We came back strongly when Ethan B and Connor scored two good tries, the first by Ethan B was an excellent try from our own half with good running, support and passing by Sam, Holly and Rory. We also had another try by Ethan B ruled out, reason unknown. As the half went on, our players started to tire (the result of playing two hard games with no subs) and the fresher OAs players started to find more space. OAs scored two quick tries which seemed to have settled the match. However one last effort by the Panthers brought an excellent try for Rory with the last play of the game to secure a well earned draw.

Hitchin Jaguars v Old Albanians B (Black): Drew 6-6

The Jaguars started the morning really well and put in a very good performance against a well organised OAs side. Brian & Jez were with the Jaguars for the morning and on speaking with them, they were really pleased with how all the players performed. The attacking play in particular was very good with some excellent running and support play by Daniel, Laurence & Harry and some fine passing by Henry, Dylan & George. We scored six well worked tries by Daniel, Laurence, Harry, Chris (2) and Dylan but there was also some good tagging in defence by Kai, Alfie & Chris. The Jaguars were always in the lead during the match and unfortunately had a try by Henry ruled out on the last play of the game, which would have secured an excellent win.

Hitchin Jaguars v Old Albanians B (Blue): Lost 5-11

The second Jaguars game did not go as well as the first as we struggled to cope with a more experienced OAs side that played some good rugby. Unfortunately I do not think the break between games did the Jaguars any favours as some of the players had lost concentration and Brian & Jez found it difficult to get them to focus in the second match. This is definitely something we need to look at for future fixtures. Nonetheless all the players put a lot of effort into the second match and with a little bit of luck the score would have been a lot closer. We scored five good tries through Laurence (2), Harry and Daniel (2) and there was some good passing and support play by Chris, Dylan and Kai. We also came close to scoring a few more tries but we either ran out of play or were nudged into touch just near the line. One thing that was mentioned was that we did miss some tags and were also offside a lot, so we will need to work on these aspects in training. Overall though, a fine effort against a good OAs side.

Tries: Chris (2), Connor (7), Daniel (3), Dylan, Ethan B (2), Harry (2), Guy (2), Laurence (3) and Rory (2).

Although some of the results did not go our way on Sunday, I was very pleased with the performance of the teams. We always knew it would be difficult coming to play such a strong club but we did ourselves proud, gave OAs four good games and played some good rugby during the morning. On speaking to the OAs coaches afterwards, they commented on how well both our teams had played and were very impressed as most of our players have only started playing rugby this year. Their A teams are unbeaten all season and have won all their matches very easily. This was the closest they have been tested all year and we gave them quite a fright. Well done to all the players.

Thanks to Brian & Jez for looking after the Jaguars during the morning and to Rob for helping me with the Panthers. Also thank you to Helen and Jo for scoring all the games, it’s a great help to have some other people keeping a note of things.

The ‘Player of the Week’ award went to Connor Dudley this week. Connor was chosen for his all round performance for the Panthers. He was involved heavily in both games, scored seven tries during the morning, did some excellent tagging and made some fine individual runs. I was also really impressed with Connor’s support play, he was always on hand to keep our attacking moves going and at times seemed to be all over the pitch wherever the ball was. Well done Connor, an excellent performance.

This week, Sunday 24th February, we have an away fixture at Datchworth (see separate note on the website for details). Please note for everyone else not involved at this fixture there will be no training at the club this week. Our next training session will be Sunday 2nd March.

Regards

Andy Dudley
Hitchin U7’s Coach
07803 160382