Hitchin RFC 0 – 24 Datchworth RFC

Saturday saw the inaugural match of the league season and funnily enough, it was the exact same fixture that the teams finished with last year. On a very wet & blustery afternoon it was never going to be a high scoring game.

Both teams came out of the blocks quickly. Datchworth received from kick off, worked their way down field and Hitchin infringed at the breakdown. Fly Half Tom Woody welcomed the opportunity and after 2 minutes, Datchworth were 3-0 up. The following twenty minutes saw some attritional rugby & big hits from both sides. Both fly-halves exchanged missed penalties and half time came with Datchworth slightly up, which they were happy with having played into the wind.

The second half was much more pleasing on the eye as Datchworth scored three unanswered tries. After 45 minutes, Datchworth had Hithin under pressure & pinned in their own 22. Trying to kick out to relieve pressure, Datchworth charged down the kick and the ball found its way to centre Alex Nolan, who showed good hands to scoop the ball up and get over the line. Wood added the extras. Datchworth then soon added a second, a fantastic debut try from Winger Geoff Clapp, showing great pace to get on the end of a chip through. Hitchin were now feeling the pressure and lost their second row to the sin-bin, loose-head prop Sean McGinty soon followed & Hitchin were down to 10 men. Datchworth made the numerical advantage count, scoring a third – a great break from Centre James Watt from thirty yards out. Wood converted all three tries and Datchworth ran out convincing winners. Man of the match, centre John Simons.

Saturday sees Datchworth’s first home game of the season against Cheshunt. A team they’ll be keen to beat after Cheshunt took Datchworth out of the county cup two weeks ago. 3pm kick off.