LONDON SCOTTISH VS HITCHIN TOWN RFC (u14'S)

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Sunday was one of those so called “must win” games which define a season, winning for either team would make the rest of the season much more comfortable and certainly decide the pecking order for next season.

Our boys certainly decided they were going to make us sweat much as them before we knew the outcome!

The first few minutes were very messy with a multitude of errors, particularly handling ones and the whole game lacked any kind of rhythm. We did well in the early scrums against a very substantial pack and certainly held our own, indeed with sustained pressure in their 22 we managed to get Kieran C very close after an excellent crash ball through the middle and even though the loose ball was kicked dead by them, the referee in his infinite wisdom decided to award the scrum to them! However from their resulting clearance we competed well in the lineout to get clean ball and send the ball rapidly across the backs to get Sammi away in the corner for our first try. 0:5

From the re start we quickly apply more pressure, but again loose passing is the only thing which was hampering our success. Billy was showing off his dancing feet and set us up for a good position in their 22, which was quickly fed back for Kieran C to make a terrific and aggressive run and score from about 40m. 0:10

We then seemed to think we had done enough to win the whole game after 20mins and took our foot off the gas. We let their big forwards come back at us and allowed them to play their rugby in our 22 for the last ten minutes and as a result they eventually wore us down to score a converted try just before half time. 7:10

We should have known that they would come out in the second half and try to repeat their pressure play but we still seemed set on letting them play their game and for us to follow them, i.e. not playing to our strengths! We let their forward push us back and dominate us in loose play and as a result their talented number 8 was allowed to pick p and drive over between the posts 14:10

Thankfully that was our wake up call and we decided we might like to win this game. We returned well at the kick off and powered our way closer to their line. In fact Charlie scored right on the touch line and even though our linesman and one of their coaches said it was a try the ref once again decided that we had knocked the ball on! If anything this strengthened our resolve even more and made us determined not to be beaten. We again edged our way forward and made good ground into their 22. there was a general exchange of errors but we eventually got pushed out in possession for their line out, which we won and drove to give callum T the chance to make it to the line for that decisive score 14:15

To be fair to the London Scottish boys they didn’t lie down and came back at us straight away. They retained the possession well in the forwards and made a great chance for their backs to score on the overlap. They even got over the line but were disallowed for a knock on by a very dodgy call by our very own linesman Phil Mac Robbie!! In fact he had to persuade the referee quite hard as he seemed determined to give it anyway.

We won, but only just. We won, even though we played well below par. Handling errors was our greatest sin, so can we win this weekend with the style we have become used to!

Well done lads!