Bank Of England U13 ‘B’ 14 vs Hitchin U13 ‘B’ 44 (HML Div 6)
Sunday saw Hitchin ‘B’ return to league action with another away day in London when they travelled to the very impressive home of Bank of England. The game started in very cold and windy conditions with Hitchin keen to get back on track following their defeat at Watford the previous week.
A lively start saw both sides tussling for the ball in the middle of the field with some good tackling from Hitchin helping to keep the home side contained in the early stages. An attempted break by BofE was halted well by a strong tackle by Jamie, with Sam J and Will J also put in some good spoiling tackles to keep the hosts at bay. Eventually the ball found its way out to Freddy who was finally able to break away and make the first assault on the BofE try line. Some good defensive tackling by the home side managed to halt his progress but excellent support work by Sam R saw him collect the ball and go over into the corner for the try. This good early breakthrough was then added to immediately from the restart when a fine catch and run by Tom swiftly moved the play into the BofE half and released Taylor who sprinted away for an excellent solo try which increased the lead to 10-0 in Hitchin’s favour.
Having fallen behind to two quick tries BofE attempted to come back at the visitors and Hitchin had to defend resolutely when a quick penalty forced the ball into their half. This was soon followed by a cross field kick into the corner which was well dealt with by Zac as he caught the ball well and set off on a good run up the wing. Good support play by the forwards saw Hitchin keep hold of the ball and Taylor eventually broke free to move the ball further up field. Freddy then took over to make more ground before a knock on stopped the move close to the BofE try line. Good work though in the resulting scrum was then followed by some sharp thinking by Sam R as he nipped through a gap in the BofE defence to cross the line again and extend Hitchin’s lead to 15-0. Soon after this Hitchin increased their points tally even further when from a BofE attack Taylor seized upon a loose ball and again broke free to score another fine individual try under the posts. Tom converted and the score moved on to 22-0 in Hitchin’s favour.
There then followed a spell of pressure from the hosts as they went in search of a reply but Hitchin’s tackling was resolute and this enabled them to successfully hold BofE up in midfield whilst also mounting their own counter attacks. One move in particular saw some great handling and passing between Zac, Will and George as the play moved back into the BofE half and Sam J carried the ball forward on another good run. There was then a near repeat of the first try as Sam R collected the ball from a surging Freddy run but BofE were able to get cover over this time to force Sam into touch. The half then finished with a try for the hosts as another good individual effort saw one of their players break free to sprint from his own half of the pitch to touch down, despite the close attentions of Jamie and Aaron who were desperately unlucky not to catch him in time. The converted kick then saw the final action of the half. HT: 7-22
The second half saw Connor, Andrew and Jack F enter the fray as Hitchin continued from where they left off in the first with Aaron, Taylor and Sam J all gaining ground with dangerous runs into BofE territory. This pressure soon bore fruit as quick thinking once again by Sam R at a scrum set Freddy free to go under the posts again and increase Hitchin’s advantage, with Tom adding further to the points with a successful conversion. The morning was by now shaping up as a day for solo efforts as from the restart we witnessed yet another excellent individual try - this time by Aaron who finally saw some reward for his tireless running throughout the match by collecting the ball and sprinting past several desperate BofE tackles to run into the corner and move the score to 7-34.
Hitchin were clearly enjoying themselves now as surging runs by Sam J and Charlie piled the pressure onto the home defence and a superb jinxing run by Zac along the wing was nearly rewarded with a try but for some good BofE defending that just managed to hold him up tantalisingly close to the line. Taylor quickly followed this by nearly going over from a scrum but the home side defended well once again by holding him up on the line. Hitchin were pounding at the BofE door now as a strong maul saw them attempt to get the ball down over the line. However surprisingly despite this it was BofE who scored next as they broke free from a weak Hitchin effort in the scrum (possibly due to the absence of Huw?) and then took advantage of some equally poor Hitchin defensive play in the midfield to run through and reduce the deficit to 14-34.
This comeback was short lived though as Hitchin moved quickly back up the other end of the pitch with Freddy ploughing through their defence before being held up. He was able to offload to Charlie though who saw the reward for his excellent support work by going over for the next Hitchin try. With the game now 14-39 in the visitors favour Hitchin were happy to restrict BofE to playing across field without really making any ground whilst at the same time seizing the chance themselves to move the ball up field when the opportunity arose. This saw several of the forwards come to the fore with Connor, Sam J, Freddy and George E all taking turns in trying to storm the BofE barricades. This tactic was eventually successful as Freddy took advantage of the loose ball from a scrum once again to go over for the final try of the match and send Hitchin home as well deserved winners as the game drew to a close with a final score of 14-44.
This week saw a fantastic effort by the U13 ‘B’ team which gave them a league victory which was fully earned as everybody was switched on from the very start of the match and played to the standard that we all know they are capable of. Every single player put in good performances and the work rate was top class in all areas with the final score being an accurate reflection of the game. And with the ‘A’ team also winning 48-0 just down the road at London Scottish it was a great morning of rugby for Hitchin at U13 level in South West London!
Player Of The Week: Sam J – tireless performance and outstanding carrying of the ball throughout the match
Team: Charlie, Toby, Dion, Sam J, Freddy, George E, Taylor, OJ, Sam C, Tom, Zac, Nathan, Will J, Aaron, Jamie H.
Subs: Connor (for OJ, h-t), Jack F (for George, h-t), Andrew (for Nathan, h-t)
Tries: Freddy (x2), Taylor (x2), Sam C (x2), Aaron, Charlie.
Conversions: Tom (x2)
League Tables