Datchworth give away Derby Day Spoils

Datchworth put in a woeful second half performance to gift Hitchin a valuable victory in their local derby match on Saturday.

Coming off the back of 2 comprehensive victories, Datchworth went into the game full of confidence, as well as being able to complete a trio of victories against all Hertfordshire sides in London North West 3.

It was the Villagers that started the brighter side, Sam McBroom cleaned up loose ball from the kick-off and made immediately ground into the home sides half. Fly-Half Sam Brunton put Datchworth into Hitchin territory, and from the resulting line out, Stuart Young broke through the midfield and offloaded to James Watt to continue his run of try scoring form and give the men in green an 0-7 lead with captain Tom Wood converting.

Datchworth appeared determine to put the home side to the sword in the first half and after some impressive ball carrying from John Scarratt, the ball was again offloaded to Stuart Young under the posts. Wood again converted to give the visitors a 0-14 lead.

Datchworth failed to add to their tally for the rest of the first half, and in the closing minutes Hitchin were awarded a penalty try after Joe Richardson was controversially penalised for blocking a man after he chipped through. The resulting conversion was knocked over to take it to 7-14 at half time.

The second half started with Datchworth on the back foot and Hitchin took the scores to within one try after a penalty to make it 10-14. An injury to Tom Wood meant kicking duties were passed to Sam Brunton, who successfully kicked his first penalty to take Datchworth back to a 10-17 lead.

Hitchin then took control of the game as Datchworth failed time after time to finish chances to take the game away from the home side. A break away try brought the home side back on level terms, before they bundled the ball over the line to give them the lead at 20-17 with only minutes left to play.

The Villagers went searching for the win, but a sudden turnover in the Hitchin half saw the home side break away with the last play of the game, and score under the posts to give them a unjust 27-17 victory.

Datchworth will feel they had plenty of chances to take the game away from the home side, however their lack of ruthlessness in front of the posts meant they walked away without a point. The Villagers have a crucial home game against top of the league Bellsize Park next week will look to bounce back with a victory.