Leighton Buzzard Match Report

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We entertained Leighton Buzzard this Sunday, in what was a slightly disjointed morning. The plan was for Leighton Buzzard to bring two teams, but they could only field the one side, so as we had three teams the plans we had for the morning unfortunately went out the window! In the end we decided to play a triangular fixture with our Panthers and Jaguars sides, but it meant unfortunately that our young less experienced side the Leopards had to make do with training matches. Not ideal, but I hope the experience of playing some training matches with the more experienced players was beneficial. In the main matches with Leighton Buzzard we came out unbeaten, with the Panthers winning their match and the Jaguars drawing a match they could have won.

Hitchin Panthers v Leighton Buzzard: Won 6-2

The Panthers got the morning off to a good start with a convincing win against a good Leighton Buzzard side. We played on the full main pitch this week and even though we played 8 a side games, both sets of players worked hard in what was a very entertaining game. The Panthers started strongly when Daniel got the first score of the morning following a fine pass from Rory. Leighton Buzzard responded with a well worked try of their own, but then the Panthers started to gain control. An excellent team try by Connor following some good running and support play by Naomh and Guy extended our lead and then Alex scored a very good individual try as he burst through the defence on half way and had the pace to score in the corner. Leighton Buzzard tried hard to get back into the game but excellent defence by all the team, in particular Ethan B, Connor and Rory kept them at bay. Our good defence meant we created some good turnover ball, but a few errors prevented us scoring some more tries and putting the game out of sight by half time. The second half was a similar story as we continued to defend well and when we had the ball we created plenty of scoring opportunities. Leighton Buzzard got a quick score back just after half time, but we sealed the victory when Ethan B scored two quick tries. The first was an excellent individual try following a fine pass by Rory and the second was a well worked team try after good passing and support play by Connor, Naomh and Chris. Again we defended well and there was some excellent tagging by Guy, Daniel and Alex. We finished the game strongly, when a good run by Naomh and support play by Connor and Chris created space for Rory to score.

Hitchin Panthers v Hitchin Jaguars: Panthers Won 4-3

Whilst Leighton Buzzard had a rest our two teams played each other in what turned out to be a close match. The Panthers started the better and two quick tries by Daniel gave them an early lead, but I was pleased with how the Jaguars responded and they got a score back when Dylan found enough space to score. There then was a period of play where both teams defended well and there was some good tagging in particular by Connor & Ethan B for the Panthers and Ciaran & Henry for the Jaguars. The Panthers extended their lead when a good pass from Rory put Connor in space to score in the corner. However, the Jaguars responded again when first Harry scored an excellent individual try from his own half, running and dodging virtually the whole length of the pitch (although we did wonder where he was going at times, but the Panthers could not tag him!). Then there was a good team try for Ciaran, which was created by some good passing and support play by Sam & Milly. The match looked destined for a draw but then the Panthers created a score with the last move of the match, when fine running and support play by Alex, Guy and Naomh put Ethan B in the clear to finish the game in style.

Hitchin Jaguars v Leighton Buzzard: Drew 4-4

We rounded off the morning with another good performance by the Jaguars. The rest seemed to benefit Leighton Buzzard as they started the game very strongly and they scored from the first move of the game. The Jaguars responded well when Henry and Ethan L combined well for Sam to score. There then was a period of play where both teams created a number of opportunities, but either good defence or little mistakes prevented any further scores. There was some fine running and passing by Milly & Kai and some good tagging by Dylan and Ciaran. Then just before half time a good run by Harry and excellent pass by Ciaran put Sam in space and he finished off a well worked move to put the Jaguars in the lead 2-1 at the break. In the second half Leighton Buzzard started well again and crossed for two quick scores to take back the advantage. However, an excellent team try for Ciaran after a good run and pass by Laurence brought the scores level again. Leighton Buzzard then started to gain the ascendancy and very nearly scored a couple of tries but some great last ditch tagging kept them out. There was one effort by Ciaran in particular which deserves a mention, when one of the Leighton Buzzard players burst clear on half way it looked a certain try but Ciaran chased him back and tagged him just before the line. This seemed to give the Jaguars some new energy as from the restart they moved the ball downfield with some excellent passing and support play by Sam, Milly and Euan, which created a good try for Ethan L. Leighton Buzzard hit back again to level the scores and it remained that way as both teams tried to get the winning score, but it just would not come.

Tries: Alex, Ciaran (2), Connor (2), Daniel (3), Dylan, Ethan B (3), Ethan L, Harry, Rory and Sam (2)

Training Matches:
As Leighton Buzzard only had one team we also played two training matches during the morning. Whilst the Panthers played Leighton Buzzard we mixed up the Jaguars and Leopards in a training game and we did the same with the Panthers and Leopards whilst the Jaguars played Leighton Buzzard.

Hitchin Yellows v Hitchin Reds: Drew 5-5
Tries (Yellows) – Ciaran (2), George (2) and Henry
Tries (Reds) – Dylan, Ethan L (2), Harry and Sam

Hitchin Yellows v Hitchin Reds: Yellows Won 6-2
Tries (Yellows) – Chris, Connor, Ethan B (3) and Joshua C
Tries (Reds) – Daniel (2)

Overall another successful morning, with both the Panthers and Jaguars putting up good performances against Leighton Buzzard. I was particularly pleased with the defence of the Panthers in their game, to play a 10 minute each way game on that size pitch and restrict the opposition to just two tries was a great effort. We have been working on our defence over the past few weeks and it was good to see the players putting so much effort into stopping Leighton Buzzard scoring. The Jaguars also defended well at times, however their attacking play lacked a bit of direction, there was too much running sideways and backwards this week. With regards to the Leopards it was disappointing Leighton Buzzard did not bring another team as it would have been good for them to have played some matches against Leighton Buzzard, but at least we managed to get them involved in some full size training games, which will be good experience for them.

Congratulations goes to Ethan Brace this week who won the ‘Player of the Week’ award. Ethan is one of our experienced players and I thought his performance this week was excellent. He made a big contribution in all the games he played scoring a number of tries through the morning. We have been working on defensive play over the past few weeks and I was most impressed with that aspect of Ethan’s game this week. He made a number of tags in the matches for the Panthers and he was always pushing forward and putting pressure on the opposition players. He seemed at times to be all over the pitch, wherever the ball was! Well done Ethan.

Regards

Andy Dudley
Hitchin U7's Coach
07803 160382