After a tough 31 all draw against an experienced Hertford side last week, Hitchin entered this weeks encounter hoping to have learnt off their mistakes 7 days ago. With a squad which could easily have passed itself off as a 1st team, there was a confident mood before the game.
A poor warm-up and a Cuffley team who looked well up for the fight meant the first half was a tight encounter. Hitchin did start well as Alfie slotted a penalty to give a 3-0 lead after 10 minutes.
However, Hitchin fell into the same trap as they did last week, conceding far too many penalties to be competitive or to get any real rhythm. Cuffley struck back with an unconverted try after a sustained period of attack. While Hitchin's penalty count remained high, they started to play some structure with Dan Bendon bossing the forwards well, and some strong carries from the likes of Ollie Francis and Karl Brooks. Hitchin were also able to play wide as Alfie managed to get some good width on the ball leading to a couple of good breaks out wide.
Hitchin struck after about 30 minutes with Dan Bendon taking an intelligent quick tap to catch the defenders on the back foot. A good line from Adam Howard left him 1 on 1 with the full back who did just enough to stop his opposite number crossing. However good support play from Brooks led to Alfie crossing under the posts for a 7 pointer. Cuffley however responded swiftly with Hitchin down to 14 men for over zealous use of the boot from Jordan Bendon, and crossed on half time to take a 12-10 lead into the second half.
The chat at half time centred on discipline and keeping structure. However after less than a minute of the second half, Hitchin gave away a soft penalty in front of the posts for Cuffley to extend their lead deservedly to 15-10.
It stayed this way for a good 20 minutes with much of the game being played in the centre of the field and an awful lot of scrums. Cuffley also lost their influential prop/captain early on, evening the tussle between the remaining front rows.
However, the big Cuffley pack were starting to tire, leading to breaks from Ross Mealing, Nick Clifford and Sam Underwood. The Cuffley defence held firm but Hitchin were gaining the upper hand. Chris Caldwell made a lovely read of the Cuffley attack for an intercept and was rewarded later on in the play with a try in the corning to level the game at 15-15.
Another good break and support play led to Ed Bellamy being held up over the line, before another break from Nick Clifford eventually ended in the backrow/prop crashing over to take the lead after a neat pass from Adam Howard.
Cuffley still had time to put pressure on and used their big forwards to gain yardage through a few good mauls, with one such maul leading to Pieter Frisch becoming the second Hitchin player to see yellow in the game. The forwards fronted up and it was the unlikely shape of fullback/scrum half Howard who managed to win the final turnover to close out the game.
Hitchin 22- Cuffley 18.
It was a good performance against a very good and physical opposition who felt the loss of their captain. Hitchin have much to work on, notably at the set piece and their discipline.
However, combined with a first team win over Finchley, Hitchin are now building a strong group of 1's and 2's. The second team boys will be pushing the first team hard for their places in the coming weeks which can only bode well for the club.
Special mentions to Jordan Bendon, Dan Bendon, Toby Page and Troy Langdon who played their first games of the season, and Pieter Frisch and Nick Clifford who played out of position in the front row.
Team Pieter Frisch, Drew Mealing, Iain Charnley, Samuel Underwood, Edward Bellamy, Karl Brooks, Charlie Palmer, Ollie Francis, Daniel Bendon, Alfie Burkett, Harry Murtagh-Edmundson, Christy Caldwell, Jordan Bendon, Toby Page, Adam Howard
Subs Nick Clifford, Ross Mealing , Troy Langdon
Scores 
The league: Herts Mddx Merit Table