Stockwood Park 10 Hitchin 43

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Hitchin’s U15s followed last week’s comfortable win with another try-fest of seven tries and four conversions.

To borrow a soccer cliché, it was a game of two halves though: the first half saw some excellent, disciplined rugby with Hitchin dominating with five of their seven tries. The weather got progressively worse during the second half and tempers on both sides seemed to match. Despite the inclement weather though, Hitchin managed to stay focused enough to seal another great win.

10.30 Stockwood kick off, but with a fumble and knock-on it was straight into a scrum to Stockwood. Our scrum doesn’t often come up against an opposition to really test them, but it was immediately obvious that today was going to be different. Stockwood pushed hard and Hitchin looked uncomfortable. The first five minutes saw Stockwood pushing deep into Hitchin’s half and they looked hungry for a result. 0 - 0
10.35 A characteristic straight-line run up the middle of the pitch by Edgar made for Hitchin’s first break into Stockwood’s half making a clever pass to Callum McR. With a great turn of speed Callum took the ball under the posts for try no.1. Tom J made sure with a confident conversion.

5 - 0
7 - 0
10.37 Stockwood took the game straight back to Hitchin and kept pushing deep into Hitchin’s half. But Callum McR had other ideas kicking the ball long and high sending it sailing over the other side’s 10m line to give a line out to Stockwood. Hitchin won it and the ball was quickly passed along the backs to Rory. His speed was such that I’m convinced I saw flashes of red flame, but maybe it was only his hair. Which ever it was there was no Stockwood player to catch him as he took the ball over the try line

12-0
10.42

10.46 Stockwood were obviously still hungry for this match though. The next five minutes saw them really take the game to Hitchin. Stockwood won a scrum and were in danger of breaking through, but Max stepped up and made a crunching tackle on one of their bigger guys stopping him in his tracks. Stockwood were quick to support and a maul of epic proportions was on. Like a clash-of-the-titans Stockwood kept pushing and uncharacteristically Hitchin were conceding ground. For over 15m Stockwood kept pushing and they actually walked it over Hitchin’s try line, but they couldn’t land the ball. From the resulting scrum on the 5m line, Stockwood took the initiative by passing the ball along their backs to score their first try. But they didn’t convert. Stockwood were indeed hungry and the game seemed to be back on.

12-5

10.48 Hitchin responded decisively – Edgar caught Stockwood’s drop kick and passed it to Callum T who quickly swung it out to Tom J. In a play eerily like Charlie’s marathon run last week, Tom came thundering up from his own 22m line and just kept on running to take a great try.

17-5
10.50

10.53 Stockwood were beginning to look rattled and judging by the chunk taken out of Josh’s hand their hunger for this match was beginning to look literal. But Hitchin stayed focused and in winning another Stockwood line-out Stefan got to within two yards of the tryline.
Sensing another possible try-fest, Hitchin were not to be denied. Callum McR passed to Callum T who unselfishly made a great play to Edgar who stormed his way over the line for try no.4. Tom converted.

22-5
24-5
10.55 Hitchin were dominating play now. A powerful push from Mickey took the ball deep into Stockwood territory yet again. Kieran C picked up the ball in a fast-paced run across the pitch. A pass that seemed to defy the laws of physics was swept up by Rory who blazed past everyone to take Hitchin’s fifth of the day. The conversion only added to Hitchin’s dominance

29-5
31-5
10.58 Stockwood were on the ropes, but it’s a foolish side that writes them off. They came hard at Hitchin in the closing minutes of the first half. It’s nice to be able to write about Hitchin scoring tries, but it’s also great to write about examples of real determination. Having already made some hard-tackles, last season’s ‘most improved player’ showed ‘true-grit’ by making three important tackles within the space of two minutes. The first clearly took its toll on Max, but he got up to stop an express-train of a run that would’ve surely been a Stockwood try. A worried-looking Coach Jeffries saw Max was down and went to check everything was okay. In a John Wayne moment, Max shrugged off Nanny Jeffries and nursing an injury that only a man can truly appreciate he was back into the game and immediately made another great tackle on an advancing Stockwood player. I wouldn’t swear to it, but I’m convinced the half-time whistle was blown from the parent’s sideline area and not by the referee.

11.05 The second-half started and the weather was beginning to worsen. And as promised tempers soon started to shorten. Stockwood conceded a penalty immediately after Hitchin’s kick-off which saw the man with “big legs” (thank you Mr Tilley) Will make a strong push for the try line. Phil also made a superb attempt at the try-line and looked set to score but Stockwood held him up. The scrum that followed saw the ball passed quickly to Billy ‘Whizz’ who seered down the pitch supported by Kieran C who took the ball over the try-line for no.6

36-5
11.12 Kieran C later made a great run down the side-line and was within feet of the try-line when he was pushed over the side-line. Regrettably, the BMX-bandit’s analysis of the tackle was forever lost as the wind and rain carried his wisdom and incite far away over the hills of Luton.
11.13 Empathising with his team-mate’s disappointment and still smarting after not scoring (for Hitchin at least) last week, Callum T scooped up the ball and took it over the try line. The ever-worsening conditions conspired against him though as he lost grip on the ball before touching down. Save it for the first league match Callum!

11.15 The resulting scrum was won by Stockwood who tried to pass it back for a drop kick clearance. Quick as a flash though, Zander snatched the fumbled ball and took it over the try-line.
Tom made short work of the conversion

41-5
43-5
11.20 This cheeky try visibly rattled Stockwood and they made some of the strongest plays of their game. The strength of their scrum was evident and they forced a penalty as Hitchin tried to contain them. That gave Stockwood the edge they needed and they dug deep to take a hard-won second try, but again they didn’t convert.

43-10
11.30 The last ten minutes of play were not pretty. The rain was dreadful, tempers were bad and the testosterone was even worse. Frankly, it was something of a relief when the final whistle came.

Hitchin had won their second match. The first-half saw some great team-play and despite the bad-temper of the final 10-15 minutes, congratulations were shared between the teams and any ill-feelings were left where they should always be left – on the sodden ground of the rugby pitch.