St Albans RFC 35 – 17 Datchworth RFC

A few changes were made to the Datchworth line-up after an improved performance against Finchley last week. Tom Bambra came in at Hooker & Tom Wood returned to the back-line. Playing with the sun behind them, the first ten minutes was all St Albans though they couldn’t turn the pressure into points. Datchworth then cleared up field & won the turnover. A few phases ensued, until the ball found its way to Flanker Marcus Potter, who bundled over to give Datchworth an early lead. St Albans hit back quickly with a penalty and then scored their first try of the game. The ball found its way to the wing, giving St Albans a 3 on 1. Not needing the third man, St Albans went over & added the extras. 10 minutes before half time, Datchworth scored the third try of the game. Datchworth shipped the ball wide, Full-Back Alex Nolan put the reverse pass inside to Centre Richard Mills who beat two men & scored in the corner. Half time and Datchworth were up by 2 points – 12-10.

St Albans came out determined in the second half & soon took the lead for the second time. Missed tackles in the centre saw St Albans carve through and they went 17-12 up. St Albans then saw yellow for a high tackle & Datchworth had an attacking scrum on the five. Stolen against the head, St Albans cleared and it came to nothing. They soon won a penalty in the Datchworth half and the lead increased to eight points. Datchworth couldn’t make the extra man count and before they knew it, had conceded three more tried in quick succession. The points coming from the back line, Datchworth just couldn’t get possession of the ball. In the final five minutes, Datchworth scored a third consolation try – Wing Nick Moore sprinting 30 metres, evading two defenders before gassing the third to leave things on a positive for the visitors.

Saturday sees Datchworth host local rivals Hitchin, still not entirely safe from relegation.