HITCHIN 3’S 20 - LETCHWORTH 3’S 7

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HITCHIN 3’S 20 - LETCHWORTH 3’S 7

This was a good day for us as we had a local derby in the afternoon and the prospect of watching England shaking off the jinx and giving Wales a long overdue beating! The team was a nice mix of youth and people who should know better at their age which made for an interesting mix of playing styles as the youth tried to hoof the ball and chase it nearly every time they got the chance and the "old uns" tried to bosh their way up the pitch with both methods achieving some success. It was nice to see the ever young Dougie Brooker back where he belongs and it didn't take him long to gain the upper hand in the line-outs where he was up against our old friend Mickey Robinson who had to resort to underhand methods which eventually landed him in the Sin Bin. Michael Painter scored all 3 tries and the ever dependable David King got a couple of conversions. Unfortunately I did not see much of the try scoring as I spent most of the game in the depths of the scrum which seemed to feature highly on the Refs list of entertainments for the afternoon. A few of the highlights I did witness were Steve Merritt's debut in senior rugby which showed what an exciting prospect this boy is as he wrong footed the opposition every time he ran at them and was solid in defence when needed. The King brothers managed to pull off one of their brilliant restart moves again although not resulting in a try this week it is still a joy to witness. Nice to see another father and son combination with Elliot and Mark Gibson both making a valuable contribution to this highly enjoyable game. Richard "Billy" Billson was another one making his debut after being injured in preseason training and it was nice to see him get stuck in and if you are reading this Billy we need your phone number. Stuart DeWolf made a telling contribution to the game from the back row in the first half and then joining the fun in the front row in the second half although his game was shortened by some idiot from his own side kneeing him in the nose during a scrum (sorry Stu). Ryan Colclough was another of the under 17s playing and after a brilliant debut last week provided another solid performance this week and is another of our exciting young prospects. I should also mention Rob Pankhurst for sticking his head where most people would have more sense and ending up with a corking black eye which his wife was most amused by. All in all this was a good indicator of the strength of the lower teams at Hitchin and was a good example of the fun that can be had playing friendly games against teams of similar ability. And yes Painter you were brilliant but you were also a pain in the arse! Does that boy ever shut up?

Squad :M Skeels, G Hawtin. G King, D Brooker, R Pankhurst, M Gibson, D Turner, S de Wolf, E Gibson, R King, S Merritt, D King, G Wearing, R Colclough, M Painter, M Luby, M Benson, T Moore, R Billson

Man of match D Brooker