Mixed results in opening three way

Yet another glorious day for rugby up at Luton RFC for a three-way with them and Leighton Buzzard (we'll have to remind ourselves of this on those dark, cold & wet mornings later in the year!).

For our first outing of the season, we faced up to Luton Reds, and showed some lovely rugby skills to take the WIN 5-25. A brace of tries from William Field and Isaac Byrne, and one from Joshua Staddon proved to be too much for the Luton side. Defensively we were strong with tackles coming in thick and fast all over the park notably from Joshua Staddon, William Field, Spencer and Thomas Paine, and some great ball chases and steals from William Goff helped to keep us on the front foot.

The second game was held against a very strong Leighton Buzzard team who reversed our fortunes beating us 25-5, with our sole try of the match coming from a barnstormingly strong run from Isaac (something which we saw time and time again during the morning leading to him earning the Parents’ Player of the Week award for a second time).

After a well needed break while allowing Luton and Leighton Buzzard to play their matches, we were back to winning ways again against Leighton Buzzard for the rematch, this time turning things around completely with a 0-25 WIN. A hat trick from William Field, a try from a run virtually covering the length of the pitch from Thomas Paine and a hugely powerful leg drive from William Bacon to heave his way over for his try topped off a great match. Again some great defensive play meant they never crossed our line, and a particularly great try saving tackle from Max Oates should be highlighted.

The final game was the Luton rematch, and this time they proved far too strong for us, running through our tiring defence easily. A 30-0 win for Luton was a depressing end to the day, with Aidan Pennells picking up an injury too for his troubles, but all in all it was a very enjoyable day over at Luton for our first visit to that club, and our first matches of the new season.

Great job Datchworth U11’s – you should be proud of all your efforts, including the way you all kept trying and held your heads up even when things weren’t going our way.