St. Albans send Harpenden packing

St. Albans welcomed local rivals Harpenden to Smallford for their first home game of the league campaign. Having seen off Tabard with organised defence, more physicality and clinical finishing, St. Albans were hoping to build on their winning start.
Harpenden were in confident mood despite their opening result as they welcomed back a host of players.
However, it was St. Albans who started the stronger gaining a penalty from the kick off. Dave “so much time” Watkins was unable to slot the three points but this was the start of a sustained period of pressure that saw St. Albans camp inside the Harpenden half.
It quickly became clear that Harpenden were not going to be able to compete with the physicality of the St Albans players and domination soon occurred up front.
After 20 minutes and showing good patience St. Albans put the power on at the scrum to drive over the try line and allow No. 8 Craig “Fat Steve” Huddlestone to touch down. Dave “So much time” Watkins added the conversion and St. Albans led 7-0. From the kick off a dubious penalty award saw Harpenden gain three points. 7-3.
This only served to galvanise St. Albans and within minutes, multiple attacks and line breaks saw debutant and inside centre Ross “just off the plane” Turnbull hold off multiple defenders to crash over the line. Again “So much time” Watkins was successful and the score read 14-3. With 4 minutes left in the half, a cheeky chip and chase by fly half Harry “Fat Potter” Trude followed by the offload to on rushing Craig “now not so fat Steve” Huddlestone, who raced to the line made St. Albans third try, again converted by Watkins. 21-3. A late penalty opportunity from Harpenden went wide and the half finished 21-3.
The second half opened with strong Saints forward play leading to a slick backs move and Ed “Rocky” Coy, back from a year sabbatical, cross over for the fourth try. 26-3. 3 tries in 3 games now for “Rocky” despite weighing 4 stone.
St. Albans now turned the screw determined to give Harpenden nothing. Further pressure and strong running from both backs and forwards saw an offload from “Fat Potter” to Matthew “new lease of life” Huddlestone who barrelled over. 31-3.
St. Albans weren’t done and more forward pressure saw Brenton “beer mat” Lemere crash over for the sixth try 36-3.
Harpenden then tried to apply some pressure to St. Albans by throwing the ball as wide as possible as quickly as possible, but Saints were wise to their plan and strong tackling in midfield saw captain and centre Gareth “alright butt” Lane pick a loose pass and run the length. “So much time” converted for 43-3 lead.
In the last 2 minutes of the game a dubious yellow card reduced St. Albans to 14 and despite what looked like crossing in midfield, Harpenden did manage to cross in the corner with the last play of the game. 43-8.
No.8 Craig Huddlestone was named Man of the Match.
A great performance by a strong St. Albans against a poor Harpenden was only topped by St. Albans 2nd XV also beating Harpenden with their own last minute try.