St. Neots Festival / Letchworth Fixture Reports & Team News 4th May

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Last weekend we had an action packed Sunday as we took one team to the St. Neots Festival (Panthers) and had two teams hosting Letchworth at the club (Jaguars & Leopards). Both squads put in some good performances and did themselves proud. The Panthers narrowly missed out on the final at St. Neots and the Jaguars & Leopards competed well against the County Champions! It was an excellent way to round off the season.

St. Neots Festival

The Panthers travelled to St. Neots and played some of the best rugby of the season. We played four games during the morning, put in some excellent performances against some good sides and came away undefeated. In the end we won two and drew two matches the same as St. Neots, but unfortunately our hosts progressed to the final thanks to one extra bonus point.

Hitchin Panthers v Olney Drew 4-4

The Panthers started the festival really well and played some good rugby against a well organised Olney team. We played on an extremely large pitch which meant there was plenty of space to exploit, but it also meant we had to work twice as hard in defence to stop teams scoring. We got this balance perfect in the first half and created an early 3-1 lead. Connor got things started with an excellent individual try running and dodging through nearly all their team and then Ciaran scored following a great run from our own line. Our defence was so good early on that we managed to stop Olney scoring on their first three phases of possession. Connor crossed for a good team try to extend the lead, but Olney got one back just on half time. The second half was very similar, but we missed a couple of opportunities and had a try by Milly not given, which could have put us out of sight. Ethan B did score a good try, but Olney also played some fine rugby and whereas in the first half we managed to stop them scoring we could not repeat this in the second half and gradually Olney came back into the game. In the end the match finished level, but it was a game we should have and could have won.

Hitchin Panthers v Biggleswade Won 7-1

After a small break we played our second game against Biggleswade in what was our best performance of the morning. We continued our good play from the first game and played some fine attacking rugby. We scored some very good team and individual tries, created numerous opportunities and there was some excellent running, passing and support play by all the team. Our defence was also particularly good in this game and to restrict a team to one try on the size of pitch we were playing on was a fantastic effort. We defended well as a team, never really allowed Biggleswade to settle and always put them under pressure with some good tagging. We led 4-1 at half time courtesy of two tries a piece by Ethan B & Ciaran and then we ran in a further three tries in the second half by Ethan B, Connor & Ciaran. Ciaran was playing against his old club and this seemed to stir the players into action in what was a very good team performance.

Hitchin Panthers v Huntingdon Won 4-0

Our third game of the morning was not as good as our earlier two. We had a long wait for this game and had to shelter in the tent as the rain came down (good idea to bring the tent Helen!), but this did not dampen the team spirit. In fact we were lucky with the weather and as we started this game the rain eased and the sun came back out. We were very slow to start this match and with our favourite ‘sergeant major ref’ blowing his whistle every 30 seconds the score was only 1-0 at half time. We could not get into the game at all and all we had to show for our efforts was a solitary Ciaran try. After a few words at half time the second half was a lot better and we started to play some rugby. We created three good tries for Ethan B (2) & Connor (1) and could have had a few more. Our defence continued to be good throughout the game and we did not concede a try during the match, although we were helped by Huntingdon not grounding the ball twice whilst over the line. Overall though another good win and this set us up nicely for the last game.

Hitchin Panthers v St. Neots Drew 5-5

Our final group match ended up being the decider and to say things did not go our way is an understatement. It was a close match and there was never more than one score in it as both sides played some very good rugby. We started very well and created a very good team try for Naomh, although both defences were strong in the first half and we went into half time with a 2-1 lead thanks to a second try by Connor. The second half was a lot more open, we played some excellent attacking rugby and there was some fine running, passing and support play by all the team. We scored three further good tries through Connor and Ethan B (2) and would have had two other scores, but for some bizarre ref decisions. Although nothing was as bizarre as the refs final decision when he played some extra time for some reason and then awarded St. Neots a controversial last gasp try to draw the match. You could say we felt a bit aggrieved!!!! Even the consolation of the Olney coach coming up to us afterwards and commenting on how rough some of the decisions were we received did not make us feel better.

Letchworth Fixture

The Jaguars and Leopards had a home fixture against Letchworth, with both teams playing two matches. We knew this was going to be a hard fixture as Letchworth won the County Festival recently, but the plan had been for Letchworth to mix up their players and rotate their squad for this fixture. However, in the end they decided to play their county team against the Jaguars and their second team played the Leopards. I have spoken to Brian and he has given me a run down of the morning and I am pleased to hear that both teams put in two committed performances.

Hitchin Jaguars v Letchworth A Lost 4-9

The Jaguars battled hard in their first game and although they lost the match they showed a lot of character and kept working hard until the final whistle. In the first half they scored three excellent tries through Ethan L, Harry H and Laurence and in the second half Laurence crossed for another score. There was some good team play throughout by all the team both in attack and defence and they made the experienced Letchworth side work hard for the win. The tagging in particular was excellent and it was great to hear all the players were working hard in defence.

Hitchin Jaguars v Letchworth A Lost 5-8

The Jaguars were slow to start their second game and were 0-5 down at half time, however there second half performance makes me feel very proud. Most teams would have given up and Letchworth would have run in a number of scores, but the players showed tremendous determination and effort to come back and win the second half 5-3. It seems as though the rain inspired this turn around and Brian feels that the players started to think more about the game. We started to play a wider game and use the space more which enabled us to score five good tries through Harry H (4) and
Ethan L.

Hitchin Leopards v Letchworth B Drew 4-4

The Leopards first game was a close match and fittingly finished in a draw. Both teams contained a number of young U6 players, but the standard of play was very good. We scored four good tries through Harry L, Jamie, Ben L & Ben G and there was some good running, passing and tagging by all the team.

Hitchin Leopards v Letchworth B Won 5-0

The second Leopards game was an excellent performance as the team got used to the match conditions and ran out comfortable winners. Again we scored five good tries through Ben L, Alexander, Joshua C (2) and Ben G, but I was most impressed by the team not conceding a try. To stop a team scoring in a game of tag is a fantastic effort by all the team.

Tries: Alexander, Ben G (2), Ben L (2), Ciaran (5), Connor (6), Ethan B (8), Ethan L (2), Harry H (5), Harry L, Jamie, Joshua C (2), Laurence (2) and Naomh

This was a fine way to finish the season and I was pleased with all the players efforts on Sunday. The Panthers put in another good performance at the festival and again with a little bit more luck could have done even better. The Jaguars and Leopards put in two committed performances against Letchworth and I was particularly impressed with the Jaguars who played against their county team and made Letchworth work hard in both games. The Leopards results were great and as this team contained a number of U6 players this gives me plenty of confidence for the U7’s next season.

We gave out two ‘Player of the Week’ awards this week, one for the players at St. Neots and one for the players at the Letchworth fixture. Both decisions were tough as there were a number of good performances, but the awards went to Chris Holes for the Panthers and Ethan Lavaille for the Jaguars. Chris joined up with the Panthers this week and did himself proud. He put in some fine performances in all the matches and I was most impressed with his running with ball in hand, space awareness and tagging. I have noticed a significant improvement in Chris over the past few weeks and this bodes well for the future. According to Brian, Ethan Lavaille had a very good morning for the Jaguars and was given the award for his commitment in both games in both attack and defence. He was always a threat with ball in hand and scored two very good tries, but I was most pleased to hear about the work he did in defence. Ethan is a good runner with ball in hand, but it is great to hear that he made a number of tags in both games and on some occasions stopped certain tries.

Sunday 4th May

Sunday 4th May is the finale to the season. This will start at 10.30am with the Founders Cup Competition. This is a TAG festival for all the mini age groups (U7's to U12's). Teams are mixed and each team is made up of at least one player from each age group. All players need to register at the club between 9.30-10.00am on the day. I have submitted our player list for this event as below:-

Alex Baber-Norris, Ethan Brace, Joshua Clark, Theo Collins, Dylan Crofton, Connor Dudley, Adam Evens, Rory Fookes, Frank Hayward, Laurence Hidle, Daniel Hill, Guy Honnywill, Sam Humphrey, Harry Laing, George Lanyon, Ethan Lavaille, Ben Lowes, Cameron Maxwell, Euan Metcalfe, Gregory Oram-Brown, Joshua Platt, Holly Pomfret, Kai Prpa, Milly Reece-Jones, Ciaran Sale, Naomh Taylor, Ben Tossell and Henry Tucker.

Around 12pm, after the festival there will be the presentation of awards and BBQ. To start with there will be the general presentations, which will include the winners of the Founders Cup Competition, Mini Team of the Year and Best Player and Most Improved Player for each age group.

After that each age group will get together and give out some further awards. All players will get a memento from the club and I will also be presenting some further awards in the U7 age group. Unfortunately I will not be there on the day, however you will be left in the capable hands of Helen. I hope you all have a great day!