Datchworth 3rd XV v Hertfords 4s - 9th September 2017

We had a useful friendly against our old season rivals at Hertford this week. Availability was an issue for most of our regulars so this was somewhat of a scratch team. A big thanks to all those who stepped in to help out.

In true 3rd team fashion, we used our emergency sub (Rob Vigus) at the very start of the game as only 14 of the 15 “selected” players arrived on the day. Rob was carrying a calf injury, so when he actually injured a different part of his body in the 2nd minute we didn’t feel so bad after asking him to play. Big hand to Rob for showing classic 3rd team spirit and chipping in when injured. Speedy recovery with that shoulder. He’ll be missed in the front row for the next few weeks.

We went down to a couple of early tries from Hertford as we clearly hadn’t woken up from our summer slumber. But then we dug in and snuck in a couple of our own, showing a stronger Hertford team that we weren’t going to take this lying down. We finished the half behind but knowing we could give these boys a run for their money.

The 2nd half score line certainly didn’t flatter us. We were out played by a well organised team who had a strong 9 and 10 partnership that made good use of the full width of the pitch. We finished up 53-10 but there were some positives to take out of the game. We never gave up, which earned the respect of our opponents on the day. We found a couple of new players who should be with us for the rest of the season and we’ve had a great opportunity to dust off the cobwebs before the first league game of the season next week. McGinty has also learned that kick offs are generally more effective when they go above head height. Notable performances from Keith Carmichael with some cracking tackles, Callum O’Connor’s sniping runs and Jay’s 2 tries in his debut for Datchworth.

Green army!