Datchworth RFC 0 – 47 Hackney RFC

On an unusually mild February Saturday, Hackney’s visit to Datchworth was always going to be a tough encounter – Hackney dominating the league this season. That said, they started well and had the first few opportunities in the game. Two tough penalty attempts at goal were missed by Wing Richard Mills, though for the first 34 minutes, things seemed to be pretty even. Then Hackney turned the screw. Moving into the Datchworth 22 and bombarding the defence, Hackney eventually found a gap and added the extras. Datchworth then kicked into the Hackney half and conceded a penalty from the breakdown. From the ensuing lineout (having kicked for touch), Datchworth gave away a penalty from pulling down the jumper. Hackney kicked again and scored with a rolling maul from the lineout. Unfortunately for the hosts, they lost Vice-captain Sam Brunton to injury, youngster full back Tommy Paskell on for his debut. Then on the stroke of half time, Hackney scored a third – another gap found in the Datchworth defence and all of a sudden Datchworth were 21-0 at half time.

The second half, started with Datchworth losing Prop Richard Hollis to injury. A shame as he was competing so well at the scrum. Tom Bambra his replacement. The second half started similarly to the first, Datchworth not giving too much away. Hackney’s superior quality and fitness told eventually and they secured the bonus point try, converted again. Soon after, Hackney added a few more tries as the Datchworth defence wilted, all but one of the seven tries converted leaving a final score of 0-47 – making things look worse than they actually were for the Greens.

This week is a rest week for Datchworth first team, before they host rivals Stevenage with a 2.15pm kick off.