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3rd Team v Black Horse Rugby - Home Cup Draw on 16 Apr 2011

Published on Tuesday, 19 April 2011

On a mild humid day there was an air of 1, anticipation with a place in the final at stake and 2, apprehension with a team that had been had been rejigged over the week in order to get at least a 15 out even with 1s, 2s and 4s all taking part in either semi's or finals. With a number of players brought up from the 4s whilst avoiding total disruption to enable them to take part in a final themselves and the return of some players who had been out of the game for several months.

The team that took to the pitch were more than capable of beating the opposition....and beat them they did.

The game started with uncontested scrums due to the severe lack of front row at the club considering between the 1s 2s and 4s there was a requirement for 13 front row across the teams so the front row factory was unable to produce any further front rowers.

From the kick off the opposition seemed well up for the match and attacked straight away. For the next 5 minutes the Hitchin team had to defend their little socks off and managed to get out of their 22 through an awesome interception by Christie Caldwell to run pretty much the length of the pitch to score. Then straight from the re-start Kieran Willoughby ran a bit further having received the ball in Hitchin’s 22 to score.

The game following this try resembled the age old theory that forwards win the games and backs score the tries.

A majority of the 11 tries scored came from the backs and the first 4 tries were all created in the Hitchin half for the scorers to run at least half the pitch to score.

The quickest hatrick ever was scored by Kieran Willoughby who scored all three tries from inside the Hitchin half in the first 15 minutes and then decided to spend the next few minutes on the sideline chucking up his 6 bacon sandwiches he had for breakfast washed down with lashings of ginger beer!!

It is hard work to remember from the 11 tries who scored when and how but I will conclude as much as possible. By half time the score was just under 50 points to nil. Amongst the tries were junior Willabooby as mentioned above, who was joined by Christie Caldwell who also scored a hatrick

Max Melville marked his return to the team with two well taken tries both involving him running from outside the 22 like a gazelle. James "Boogie" Bull, Sam Underwood and Nick Marshall ran in the remaining tries.

Now...tries were not the only thing that kept the score board ticking over, the conversions were very successful too. Mike Wilkins had 100% record with his boot with 5 from 5, as did Nick Marshall 1 from 1, but Dave King only managed 80% with 4 out of 5. This 80% may have been improved upon if he hadn’t had tripped up when coming out of the changing room and almost removed the sole from his boot which meant repair work had to be done as there was no time to dip into the "get Dave King some new boots" fund, so the good old Mr electrical tape was required, and a fetching red colour it was to.

Even though the Hitchin team (and the supporters) were left bemused by a number of the refereeing decisions, this allowed a yellow card to be given to Simo Green and in the second half Tony Fitzpatrick. The first was for a minor infringement but the latter was a bit more deserved with the entire defensive line shouting "Tony, hands out of the ruck" but Tony was intent on getting that ball.

All 16 players played extremely well and considering the score line the team had to work hard to get to this score. With a make shift front row of Max Melville, Sam Rushbrook and Chris Frisch, 2nd row of Sam Underwood and Joff lord and the back row of Boogie, Mike Bestwick and Simo Green. Each forward put in a number of big hits, most notably Chris Frisch for a couple of monstrous tackles and Mike Bestwick for his shear frequency of tackles. All forwards kept the intensity up throughout the game and matched the opposition for power and aggression (in a more legal form). The forwards were well marshalled by Rob Corr who was supported by Dave King, Caldwell, Mike Wilkins, Sam Burton, Kieran Willoughby and Nick Marshall.

Nick Marshall had a hand in a number of the tries and all the backs were able to take advantage of the space created by each other and to capitalise on the excellent link up play.

Final score 75-19

Bring on the final against Datchworth 3s on 30th April at Shelford RFC



Team Michael Bestwick, Rob Corr, Christy Caldwell, Christian Frisch, Joff Lord, James Bull, Max Melville, Samuel Underwood, Sam Rushbrook, David King, Kieren Willoughby, Simeon Green, Michael Wilkins, Sam Burton, Nick Marshall

Subs Anthony Fitzpatrick

Scores T: Kieren Willoughby (3), Christy Caldwell (3), Max Melville (2), James Bull (1), Samuel Underwood (1), Nick Marshall (1) C: Michael Wilkins (5), David King (4), Nick Marshall (1)

Player(s) of Match 1. Kieren Willoughby League Tables

 

 

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Hitchin Rugby Limited, King George V Playing Fields, Old Hale Way, Hitchin, Hertfordshire SG5 1XL England, Charity No. 1159772
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