Barnet Elizabethans 13 – 7 Datchworth

In a mud soaked affair, hosts Barnet ran out victors over Hertfordshire rivals Datchworth at Byng Road. In what was never going to be a high scoring game, hosts Barnet set out there game plan early – building mauls and rucks from their strong set piece, though impressive defence saw them not breach Datchworth’s line immediately. After 15 minutes the Datchworth team started to gain momentum and led by the impressive Mark Holgate, bombarded the Barnet line. Barnet stood strong however, defended resolutely and no score could be found. Moments before the interval Datchworth gave away a penalty in front of the sticks and the opposing full back slotted over accordingly, 3-0 half time.

A change of ends did nothing for the men in green and after missing two penalty attempts themselves, went further behind to Barnet. The hosts setup a maul from a lineout (an excellent lineout that saw every ball won on the day), and marched over Datchworth’s line to make it 8-0. 5 minutes later they set up another lineout maul, a well worked move that saw them turn their lead into a 13 point advantage. The last 20 minutes of the game saw Datchworth’s most impressive period, in which Barnet went down to 13 men for persistent fouling. Bombarding the host’s line, the referee eventually awarded a penalty try after about 8 penalties in a row and two sin binnings for the hosts. Tom Wood, Fly Half, duly converted and Datchworth came away with a losing bonus point.

Next Saturday see’s Datchworth make the trip further into London to play Harringey Rhinos.