DATCHWORTH RFC - OLD STREETONIANS - SATURDAY 29TH OCTOBER 2022

Despite a much-improved performance on the previous Saturday’s disappointing effort at Finchley, Datchworth were ultimately outplayed by high-flying Londoners, Streetonians, at The Green on Saturday.

The men in green started brightly and aggressively, tackling hard and rucking well. The pressure told and Streetonians conceded a penalty for handling at the ruck. Young James Wilson stepped up and calmly slotted the ball between the posts for a 3-0 lead. However, the opposition soon shook off the journey and after half-an-hour were in a comfortable 3-14 lead through two excellent converted tries. Streetonians were not big or flashy but they were very competent and clinical, their excellent fly-half orchestrating the back line and kicking with great skill.

Although Datchworth competed very well in the set scrums and (for the most part) the line-outs and won their fair share of possession, the back line struggled for fluency against the opposition’s stalwart defence. For the majority of the time, the home side defended stoutly but they occasionally coughed up possession and missed first-up tackles. Although James Wilson kicked another penalty to keep Datchworth in touch at 6-14, the opposition pressure eventually told and a penalty was quickly followed by two unconverted tries to leave Streetonians 6-27 ahead at half-time.

Datchworth gave a much better account of themselves in the second half, scoring two excellent converted tries, the first of these started by a great break from prop Will Williams, in fine form before departing for a three-month sheep-shearing stint in New Zealand, and finished by the electric pace of James Wilson. These were matched by two more tries from Streetonians, determined not to let Datchworth back into the game.

The men in green had a number of try-scoring opportunities in the second half but some sloppy passing and handling let these chances slip away. Nevertheless, they could take heart from a gutsy performance against a very skilful team. Ironically, if they had played as well the previous week, they would have beaten Finchley easily. Young second-row forward Connor Harris, the man of the match against Finchley, had another outstanding game but was beaten to the man of the match award this week by even younger Ollie Barnes who tackled very well and made some bullocking runs, at times taking several opposition defenders with him. It was good to have inside centre Mark Livesey back and James Wilson had another excellent match, scoring 15 of his team’s 20 points.

This is a League where there are no easy games but on their day any team can beat any other team, so Datchworth remain upbeat, despite a number of niggling injuries to key players.

Jeremy Gillham
Head of Senior Section
Datchworth RFC