OLD STREETONIANS - V - DATCHWORTH RFC - SATURDAY 12TH FEBRUARY 2022

Datchworth travelled to 5th-placed Streetonians with genuine hopes of a win after their narrow home defeat against the same opponents earlier in the season; and, but for a few mistakes at critical points in the game, they might well have reversed that defeat.

Datchworth started solidly. Their defence was sound and they were not afraid to test the opposition backs by running the ball from defensive positions. Unfortunately, one such foray ended with a Datchworth pass to one of the opposition centres which led to a Streetonians try in the right-hand corner, the men in green down 5-0 after 15 minutes. This was followed almost immediately by another opposition try, this time in the left-hand corner. The Streetonian backs were certainly testing out the Datchworth backs’ defensive skills. To their credit, the men in green defended extremely well for the rest of the first half and forwards and backs combined impressively on a number of occasions in sweeping moves downfield; but the Streetonians defence was well up to the task and they went into half-time hanging on to their 10-0 lead. It had been a competitive half with handling errors on both sides but plenty of commitment, especially in defence.

Concerns about injuries to Olly Tatlow and Liam Walker had fortunately proved unfounded because they were both soon back on the pitch. Datchworth started the second half very strongly, immediately engineering a line-out on the opposition 5-metre line; but the line-out turned into a messy maul with the resulting scrum going to Streetonians and then Datch backchat to the referee resulting in a penalty and a wasted opportunity. After 15 minutes, a sustained period of opposition pressure led to another well-taken-try, leaving Datchworth 15-0 down with 25 minutes to go. However, as they so often do, Datchworth rallied with an excellent try by inside centre Franco Caroleo. Alas, another mistake from the kick-off gave away vital territory and led to another Streetonians try leaving the green army 22-5 adrift. But once again Datchworth responded with a backs move started by wing James Hankin with a sharp run up the right, followed by skilful inter-play between backs and forwards and finished in the left-hand corner by a brilliant run from Nick Moore. 22-10 and Datchworth right back in it. But again a couple of mistakes allowed Streetonians to widen the gap to 29-10.

However, Datchworth were not finished yet. Once more the backs swept downfield, This time, the forwards rucked and rucked again and No.8 Dom Negri bullocked his way over from 10 metres out. Fly half Tom Bennett, who had an excellent second half, converted, leaving a final score of 29-17. This was an entertaining game which Streetonians deserved to win but, as so often this season, this young Datchworth team showed commitment, resilience and no little skill. If they can cut out the errors and focus for the whole 80 minutes, a successful end to the season beckons.In