Bs Suffer Checkmate at Chess Valley

HRFC U13s | Match report

A powerful start to the game from Hertford was encouraging to see, with both sides tackling and running hard. But Chess Valley were the first to score, despite a series of brave tackles including one from Ollie, which resulted in a rib injury and unfortunately ruled him out for the rest of the game. It was at that point that the team knew – without any further replacements – that they were in for a hard slog, but they hit back well with some good phases going forward, to put pressure on the opposition. Some nice play led to a skilful back move and a perfectly timed pass from Isaac putting Tommy Neave into space, who took full advantage with a powerful run, breaking a tackle from the fullback to level the scores.

A strong response came from Chess Valley as they dominated the next period of play and scored 4 unanswered tries. Thankfully, Hertford finished the half strongly and found some energy to go forward with a series of pick and gos and powerful forward play, particularly from Corben, which eventually led to 2 tries from Noah, including a sweet reverse pass to find him on a good angled run to go over. When the whistle blew for half time the score was Chess Valley 25 Hertford 15.

A quick score from Chess Valley early in the second half and it was clear that the lads were running out of gas. The opposition piled on the pressure, rotating their large squad to ensure they had fresh legs all over the pitch. They scored some good tries but frustratingly we conceded a couple of soft ones due to poor decision making. We were fortunate that Chess Valley lent us some players as we picked up injuries both in our forwards and backs as the game went on.

The standout play in the second half for Hertford came from a direct run from Ethan who showed great determination to battle over the line from the 22. Special mention should go to Joseph who was strong both in attack and defence throughout the match and Henry making his Hertford debut and putting in a powerful and aggressive performance.

All in all a battling display from Hertford – well done to all the lads who made the journey, represented the shirt with pride and put a full shift in.

FT: Chess Valley U13 60-v-20 Hertford U13 B

Andy Medcalf