Finchley 40 – 12 Datchworth

Datchworth travelled to North London Saturday looking to make amends for their last gasp defeat to Hemel Hempstead, though it wasn’t too busy as the hosts ran in an impressive six tries. Datchworth haven’t won at Finchley for five years and it looked like that trend was to continue as they raced into a 19-0 lead. The first try was a chip over the Datchworth defence which the Finchley 13 collected and ran under the posts unchallenged. The visitors then failed to deal with a box kick and Finchley went wide and found themselves with a 3 on 1 which they finished well, despite impressive efforts from Datchworth Full-back Alex Nolan. The third try came from the Finchley blind side, Datchworth missing a few tackles and Datchworth went 19-0 down.

Changes were needed and Hooker Tom Bambra came on- this seemed to sure-up the away scrum. Finally Datchworth seemed to spring to life and wing James Watt scored an intercepted try and Datchworth were back in the game, Scrum Half Tom Wood converted. This was followed by Datchworth winning a penalty and kicking for touch. From the ensuing lineout, the ball was rumbled up and it was left to Flanker Marcus Potter to claim the try, 19-12 the score at half time.

With Datchworth’s building momentum, the first score of the second half was going to be pivotal to the outcome of the game and it was the hosts that got it. Against the run of play, the Finchley 13 found space in his own half, showed mean gas and was under for the bonus point try. He soon after scored his third try and the game was over for Datchworth, the score 33-12. There was still time for Arthur Gymer’s long awaited Datchworth debut, before Finchley’s sixth & final try.

Next week is a rest week and the following Datchworth will host St Albans, a 2.15pm kick off. They’ll be looking to make amends and be hoping for a few faces to return from injury.