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Leighton Buzzard visit Hitchin and find mixed results.

More details of Sundays game below.

Details for this weekend as follows:

Lions visit to Cambridge

Alfie, Alex, Sam, Harry D, Harry L, Niall, Elliot W, Jack, Jordan

If for any reason you cannot make it please let me know

We need to be there for 10.00, with the first match at 10.30. Please leave plenty of time to get there as it is busy round the entrance. More than 2 minutes late for a fixture and we could lose before throwing a ball!
Address is as follows:
Cambridge Rugby Union Football Club
Wests Renault Park
Grantchester Road
Cambridge
CB3 9ED

Map can be found on the following link:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/newmap.srf?x=543422&y=257213&z=1&sv=543250,257250&st=4&ar=Y&mapp=newmap.srf&searchp=newsearch.srf

The Tigers are at home with Charles. Please let me know if you are not available. We are also looking for some help for Charles as most of the usual suspects are at Cambridge. Please let me know if you are willing to help.

Match reports from Sunday (thanks to Jill and Caroline)

Hitchin Tigers 5 V Leighton Buzzard 8
Iago scored straight from the start but LB came back immediately. Some good passing between the twins Rhian and Niall, resulted in a try for Niall. Some good defence then gave us possession and we managed to advance to the last 5 yards before LB won the ball back. Good support work gave Rhian another weaving run for a try! Just before the half time break, LB came back and scored. They started strongly after the break with another try. Despite some strong tagging and determined runs, LB win the ball again and score. However, the Tigers hard work is rewarded when Ben L breaks through and bags a try. LB find a gap down the wing and keep their lead. A good effort from Elliot and support from the twins is thwarted by LB, who stole the ball back and score a great try. Ben S got a consolation try but LB grab the final try with a runaway effort.

Hitchin Lions 7 V LB 4
The LB squad wasn't big enough to field two teams, so they deserve full credit for a giving us a very entertaining game. In general terms, the first half gave us a great example of how fantastic our defensive work is when all the squad are working together. I lost count of the amount of turnovers we won from getting the 7 tags and our attacking play was just as effective as we took every advantage of those turnovers to score. Noticeably consistant tagging from Jordan, and great team work in the passing from Elliot, Sam and Harry D.
Our try scorers in order were, Alfie, Harry L, Alfie and Sam and this gave us a 4 - 0 lead at half time. However, LB came back strongly and got three tries in a row, but the Lions found their pace again and three more tries from Harry D, Jordan and an amazing individual effort from Pippa gave us a good win.

Final game - 9 a side Hitchin 7 - LB 8
Our whole squad got a game in this final fun match. Again, full credit to a tired but determined LB side who just wouldn't give up. Our try scorers were - Elliot, Alfie 3, Daniel, Harry L and Niall.
LB were always ahead in this game and all the players deserve credit for their effort and determination. Birthday boy Elliot in particular had an unlucky day, despite all his usual effort, he was denied a couple of times as he was close to the try line. Special mention to Daniel who's first try for the club was quite spectacular to watch as he ran the length of the pitch. Niall used his speed to good effect for his try and Alfie as always, finishes off with such style but is also such a good team player too.

Coach's Comments

If only England could play like this!!!

A great performance by both the Lions and Tigers...and then a combined team against a strong and fast (!!) Leighton Buzzard Squad.

I was delighted by the efforts of everyone and you really played together as teams.

We reverted to a 7-man "WALL" defence and in one game the Lions turned the ball over 4 times, preventing the 'Buzzards' from scoring in the first half - excellent, well done. You had clearly been watching Scotland yesterday!!

Equally, the Tigers showed strong defence and I was particularly impressed with the way you held your 'Channel' positions and waited for the attack to come to you.

Also the defence did as Charles, Chris and I asked and 'PUSHED UP' preventing the attacking team having space.

In attack, there were both excellent individual tries and great team tries - I was particularly impressed with the RUNNING SUPPORT that we've been working hard on in recent training sessions - thank you.

I've two PLAYER OF THE WEEK awards to mention.

Last week, BEN STEPHENS was my Player of the Week. Ben has been a real leader for the Tigers this season. He plays in the crucial 'centre of defence' (No.3) position for the Tigers and takes responsibility to line up his defence. He is not the biggest player in the team, but he makes up for this with powerful determination, which not only ensures he gets his fair share of tags but equally in attack he drives through the oppositions defence with pace and guile - leading to him scoring 7 tries already this season, with more to come I'm sure. He has good ball skills and I know when offloading the ball, it will always go to one of his teammates. In recent weeks we have started 'contact' and again Ben's determination means he is comfortable tackling much bigger boys - keep it up.
Ben, you've been a key player this season and regular top performances mean this award is richly deserved. Well done!!

This week, DANIEL is my Player of the Week. Daniel has only recently joined the Hedgehogs, but in just 6 weeks he has really developed his rugby skills. Whether it's running, passing or tagging Daniel gives his all. He's also really taken to contact and I wouldn't want to be on the end of one of his tackles!! In today's matches against Leighton Buzzard, Daniels' performance stood out and was the equal of many of the more experienced players. In one Buzzard attack I counted 3 tags that he got that enabled us to overturn the ball. Then when he gets the ball in his hands, he loves to run. One such run I thought would bring his first try for the club, but he just fell short of the line. But not to be beaten, in the next match he picked up a pass on the half way line and with sheer determination ran around the defence to score in the corner - the look on his face was matched only by Mum and coach!! Excellent Daniel, we're really proud of you, well done!!

Thank you for today, and well done one and all

Eric