Welwyn shook off the disappointment of relegation two weeks ago to secure a place in the final of the Hertfordshire RFU Presidents’ Tankard against Stevenage Town at Saracens’ Allianz Park on Sunday 30th April. Welwyn will be hoping to take plenty of support to the match which kicks off at 13.30.

Hitchin proved to be stubborn opponents and every time that Welwyn looked to be pulling away, the visitors reined them back in. In the final act of normal time, Hitchin scored a converted try to level the scores at 32-32 and the match went into a period of extra time of 10 minutes each way. Welwyn proved too strong in the added time and scored three converted tries without reply to secure their place in the final.

After a minute’s silence for club stalwart, Ian Cousins, Welwyn were quickly into their stride and were 7-0 up after ten minutes. Soon afterwards, an intricate backs move from within their own 22 broke down and Hitchin seized on the loose ball with their centre running fully 80 metres to score an unconverted try. Welwyn responded well and a good run by Josh Milton released Joe Burns who scored to extend Welwyn’s lead to 12-5. Hitchin narrowed the gap with a straightforward penalty, but then a crunching tackle by Aaron Chandler dislodged the ball and skipper Phil Grehan was quick to pounce, releasing Dan Ashcroft who scored under the posts. Harry Di-Lieto’s conversion extended Welwyn’s lead to 19-8.
Five minutes later, Welwyn somehow managed to steal a ball deep inside their own 22 and Grehan set off on one of his trademark runs out of defence. Callum Tormey supported well and took the pass to finish off a try against the run of play to extend Welwyn’s lead at half time.

Hitchin had much the better of the second half. They were denied a try after the referee consulted with his touch judge and Welwyn were awarded a penalty instead. Unfortunately the clearing kick failed to find touch and Hitchin ran the ball back and scored in the left hand corner. Welwyn responded with a catch and drive from a lineout but further tries from the visitors narrowed the gap to 29-25. With 2 minutes of normal time left, Grehan was high tackled in front of the posts and replacement Chris Kemp converted to take the score to 32-25. Deep into injury time, Hitchin scored after a period of pressure and the conversion levelled the scores at 32-32 as the final whistle was blown.

Welwyn dominated the added 20 minutes of extra time with tries from Chandler, Ashcroft and Adam Harcourt, all converted by Kemp and will hope to take their form from the first half and extra time to Allianz Park on Sunday. Welwyn’s man of the match, sponsored by Neem Tree, was centre, Aaron Chandler, who scored the decisive try in extra time and whose defence was outstanding throughout the game.