So close......

Hertford vs Rosslyn Park A/Bs
A game of two very contrasting halves: the first half played down the hill with a gentle breeze, the second half played up the hill into a near gale. The first half ended with a Hertford two tries up (2-0) and second half with Rossyln Park (‘Park’) taking a well-deserved 4-3 victory.
Hertford played the first ten minutes in Park’s half, but Park dominated possession. Hard tackles from Tom R, Josh and Matthew in the centres and Regan on the wing stopped Park from gaining any forward momentum. But eventually the pressure told and Park escaped up field only to be denied by a Fraser tackle, the first of several near-certain tries he stopped in a “they shall not pass” defensive performance.
Hertford came back strongly, and a slick move by the backs, with Fraser joining late and at speed, freed Tom B to run it in for an against-the-run-of-play try.
The lead quickly became two when Tom B picked off a Park pass and ran it in for his second.
And after strong runs from the forwards, notably El Cid, Hertford were again putting pressure on Park and had a pass from Tom B to Josh gone to hand, the score at half time would have been 3-0.
The second half started badly with Tom B sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on. Park, playing with a fierce wind behind them took total control of the game. They passed at speed, physically dominated Hertford at the breakdown and scrum and, despite relentless tackling from everyone in the team, eventually scored. Four times.
With the score at 2-4 and after close to twenty minutes played exclusively in their own half, Hertford eventually moved the ball up the hill and into Park’s half. Another strong run from Fraser, freed up Tom B who ran in a third try. Final score 3-4.
A big thank you, as always, to the coaches and well done to the boys. Park are comfortably the best team we’ve played all season - with a few more smarts and a little better luck, a win was in reach.
NB