Datchworth 22 – 5 Stevenage Town

Even with rivals Stevenage languishing near the bottom of the table, hosts Datchworth always knew it was going to be a fiercely contested derby match and that it was, they were made to work incredibly hard for their victory.
Stevenage came flying out of the blocks and soon took the lead, not before Datchworth Fly-Half Tom Wood put himself in the sin bin though (8th minute). Datchworth had won a penalty, and when trying to re-gather the ball Wood was involved in an off the ball scuffle that saw him see yellow, putting the early hosts under further pressure. Stevenage marched their way up the pitch led by an aggressive and capable forward pack. Five metres out from the line a ruck was formed and Stevenage’s scrum-half snipered through the Datchworth guards and managed to get the first score of the match (15), this was not converted. They followed up their early score by bombarding the Datchworth line, though the hosts defended resolutely and with great cohesion. Stevenage couldn’t make a series of five scrums on the five metre line count and Datchworth managed to turn over and break. When the hosts managed to get the ball to their backs, they always looked incredibly dangerous. The ball found itself to wing Craig Rowlinson, whom bounced off four tackles to run the ball in from 60 metres out and give Datchworth the lead (23). This was converted by Tom Wood.
From kick off Datchworth then scored immediately. A barraging run from Mark Holgate saw Datchworth work their way up the pitch. James Nutting then took the ball on and offloaded to Captain Matthew Francis. Excellent support saw two more offloads from the tackle and see Datchworth just 5 metres from Stevenage’s line. It was left to Flanker Marcus Potter to bundle over (25), Wood couldn’t add the extras.
Datchworth then re-gathered the ball and after a few exchanges of possession, full back James Watt broke through the centres and sprinted up the pitch leaving him one on one with the Stevenage full back. Ably supported by centre Matt Winters, Watt classily drew the man and offloaded putting Winters in under the posts (35), Wood converted. There was still time for Wood to add a penalty (38) giving Datchworth a 22-5 half time lead.
Unfortunately on the stroke of half time Datchworth lost flanker Marcus Potter to a broken leg. Stevenage took a quick penalty, and Potter made a truly tremendous tackle, only to injure himself in the process. He will be sorely missed by the hosts over the New Year period and is wished a speedy recovery.
The injury saw a move to the old first team pitch for the second half which was much boggier, testament to the Datchworth groundsmen that such a difference in pitch was noticed and it was obvious that all the effort and time that has gone into the new pitch has truly paid off. Unfortunately there wasn’t much to report in the second half and no additional score was added, leaving Datchworth one score short of the bonus point win, though a good solid all round victory.
This is the first time Datchworth have done the double over league rivals Stevenage and see’s them in the top half of the table moving into the Christmas break. Saturday see’s a memorial game at Datch for the much loved clubman and formerly Deputy Head of the Youth section, Chris Mills, a 2.15 kick off.