U14’s come out on top in local derby

With 4 Datch tries within the first 10 minutes, this encounter initially looked like it was going to be a one sided affair, but fair play to Welwyn who really turned things around in the second half, and given a few more minutes could have snatched the win.

Connor B started the early onslaught from the Greens just seconds after kick off with a superb run up the left wing to touch down with barely 20 seconds on the clock. A very windy morning made it nigh on impossible for the kickers to convert today’s tries though, and Danny was unable to add to the score line from the boot. 2 minutes later, Connor B decided to try the right wing now instead, and touched down for his second, with Danny’s conversion striking the woodwork this time making it 10-0.

3 minutes later, Matt Cox took the ball from inside our own 22 and ran the length of the pitch up the right wing to put us 15-0 to the good. Again the wind took its toll on the kick, and the score line remained the same.

Datch’s scrums were working well again today, and we stole several against the head, with one of those leading to Thomas P getting the ball out quickly and then back in to Danny’s hands who charged for the line to take us 20-0 up after just 10 minutes.

We saw some stirling defensive play from several players today, notably Connor Attoe bringing down several players and Connor B in support jacking the ball. However, with just 1 minute to go of the first half, and with Welwyn gaining a penalty on our 5m line, they spread the ball wide and touched down in the right corner to make it 20-5 going into the break.

The first 15 minutes of the second half saw a resurgent Welwyn battling hard to make up lost ground, but Datch defended well and we had something of a stalemate for a long while. However, we were unable to get our game going in this half, and were uncharacteristicly dropping off tackles late into it through a combination of fatigue, coldness and injuries to Josh Staddon and Will Grovestock. Welwyn made it count with a fast paced try through the middle of our defence evading several tackles, and the only successful conversion of the morning saw the score Iine tick over to 20-12. A last minute unconverted try saw Welwyn claw back to 20-17, but the clock had run out thankfully for Datch, and we took the win.

Man of the match went to Sam for his consistency in going forward and never say die attitude.