With the 2.30pm kick off there was no question that we would end the game in bad light, so on a sunny, windless (first half) and slightly soft under foot day we kicked off with a team that had undergone a few changes following the tight game last weekend.

The CS Stags1863 kicked off towards the railway line and the game was underway. Neither side established control in the early part of the game with a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. We did establish good forward momentum with short drives which were causing problems for Hertford.

The moment of the first half came from a driving maul, providing stable ball and momentum, with a penalty advantage having been given Tom Wooton (10) fired a cross field kick the full width of the pitch for Nigel Wong (14) to catch and run in from 30 metres out, he did pass one player en route to the try line. 5-0.

From the restart we invited pressure on ourselves but managed to defend the line with strong tackles coming in across the field and we ultimately found an exit. Hertford conceded a penalty, which we kicked to their 22, the following line out saw the forwards give Mike Ozdilli (8) a score from a very well set driving maul. 10-0.

Hertford again came back strongly trying to run through our back line, but strong tackling for our Emmet McDonnell (12), Pat Regan (13) and Luke Trigg (11) meant our line was holding. A collapsed maul meant we were to end the half with 14 players. The pressure was on to close out the half but 14 players, some erratic on field calls by the official and our inability to get the ball off the park with the boot meant we ended the half conceding.

HT – 10-7

“Stags” came out early for the second half playing towards the tennis courts, sun behind them as well as a wind kicking up to the tennis courts. Still a man down. Hertford kicked off and the “Stags” received and efficiently cleared to the half way.

Both sides intensified their efforts at the start of the 2nd half, with a lot of running across but not much progression up the field. On our first foray into the tennis court corner as a result of a penalty kick to the corner we had a line out, catch and drive followed by a blindside peel away by Billy Garrett (18/hooker) scoring in the corner. (See video clip) 15-7.
Rather than dwell on the to-ing and fro-ing we finally started showing a level of dominance with Hertford dropping their heads. We picked up a line out around the half way mark, nicely caught and driven … what followed was a pass out to Tom Wooton (10) who carved through the Hertford back line beating three defenders to score from 30 metres out. 20-7 Bonus point! We finally gave Alex Jones (9) a kick from a decent position, and we pushed the score to 22-7.

From the restart the game ended with Hertford knocking on……

FT – 22-7

Tries – Mike Ozdilli (8), Nigel Wong (14), Billy Garrett (18/hooker), Tom Wooton (10)
Conversion – Alex Jones (9)

Man of the Match as chosen by Head Coach, Ollie Bryant awarded to Ben Logan (5)
Special mention from Ollie for their performances - Pat Regan (13) Emmett McDonnell (12) and Mike Ozdilli (8).