Datchworth 27 - Bank of England 17

Looking to secure a second win at home in consecutive weeks, Datchworth were hosting Bank of England RFC, travelling up from South of the river. Positive from last weeks victory but wary of a Bank team that had suffered a trouncing the previous week, Datchworth kicked off up the hill.

Datchworth were soon on the back foot as Bank tested the home sides back line after making some penetrating kicks deep into Datchworth territory. A string of refereeing decisions unpopular with the home crowd left Datchworth struggling for possession and under pressure. The home side defence faltered from a communication breakdown and a couple of missed tackles allowed Bank to run in two hand delivered tries, with one conversion.

Datchworth fought back into Bank territory, but some good defence from the visitors prevented the home side from getting over the try line. A couple of penalties slotted by Tom Wood were all that Datchworth could take from the first half, with Bank managing to score a third try and further stretch their lead.

After a disappointing first half the home side needed to step up and be counted, and some good pressure early in the second half found Datchworth camped inside Bank’s 22. Some good phase rugby from the Datchworth pack finally put the try line in striking distance and Biggun took the opportunity to dive across the line for his second try in two matches. The conversion from Tom Wood allowed Datchworth to take the lead for the first time in the match.

Datchworth kept the pressure on, forcing Bank into making mistakes around their own 22 and the home side were rewarded with 2 more penalties, both slotted by Tom Wood. The boot of the Datchworth fly half led to the next score, after a clever chip over the Bank back line was chased into the bottom corner and scored by Datchworth skipper James Watt. The scoring for the afternoon was concluded with a sweetly struck drop goal from Tom Wood who ended up with 17 points of Datchworth’s 27-17 victory. Another great come back from a Datchworth side who seem to like doing all the work in the second half.