Groundhog Day fails to materialise in the spring sunshine

Words eloquently provided by JD.

On a beautiful sunny day the second team welcomed Stevanage to Boggymead for a third fixture of the season between the two side with the men in blue and gold looked to avenge two close defeats from earlier in the year. A delayed kick off didn’t stop St Albans making a fast start as inside centre Dan Cooper, rampaging like a baby rhino, drove deep into Stevenage territory and forced a penalty. Kicking into the corner the forward pack took their lineout cleanly and drove powerfully over the line. The pack went down but the ball stayed up. However, the intention to attack was clear and after some neat interplay by JD and Jasinski from the goaline dropout Saints were soon back on the try line and when the opportunity came for another driving maul the pack steamrollered their way over the line like the Wilder beast over Mufasa. Ollie Stevenson was the last one up with the ball and the saints were ahead. Charlie stepped up to take the conversion and with paparazzi filming he struck the ball beautifully…to the left of posts. 5 – 0 Saints.

A dropped kick off allowed Stevenage a foothold in the game but the Saints defence held firm with James McVeigh, Mark McCrystal and Half man Half Yeti John Sayers being especially prominent playing their own game of ‘Whack-a-Mole’ with Stevenage runners, whenever one popped up they would smack them back down again. Turn over ball was finally secured and skipper Harry Trude was able to relieve the pressure. Saints again attacked with the second row paring of Mike squared (Mike Upton and Michael Duppa-Miller) both driving the ball on and a second score seemed inevitable. Stevenage are not second in the league for nothing though and they were able to disrupt the play
and set their strong running 8 on a marauding run up field. Just as he looked like tying up the score fullback Jasinski put in a great last ditch tackle, a turnover was made and Saint once again set off looking for their second score.

This time they held the ball through the phases and the opposition finally ran out of defenders as the ultimate hybrid player Morris who was either propping, back row or on the wing at this point crashed over in the corner. Charlie again stepped up, a deep breath a beautiful swing of the right boot and the ball sailed… to the right of the posts! 10 – 0 Half time.

Stevenage knew that the game could easily slip away from them and began the second half with real intent. Showing what a quality side they are they hit rucks hard and carried the ball with purpose until they worked their way into the Saints 22 really stretching the home defence. Two quick phases later they were diving over the whitewash and reducing the deficit to 5. 10 – 5 to Saints Skipper Trude rallied the troops. A simple game plan was agreed and the energy levels of the first half were restored with the injection of Will and Charlie off the bench. The Saints got hold of the ball and kept it. Frustrating Stevenage and gaining ground, they kicked sensibly and chased hard especially McVeigh and Will who smashed the opposition 10 behind the gain line and allowed Stevenson to latch on the ball like lovesick limpet and win the penalty. Cometh the hour and cometh the man. Charlie lined up the kick on the 22 and sent it soaring between posts. Third time lucky and the crowd (his mum) went wild!! 13 – 5

Tails up, the saints began to move the ball around more confidently Trude and Osborn were really pulling the strings and space was more easily found as some of the larger and older gentleman on both teams wilted in the heat. With a penalty advantage gained Osborn put a speculative chip behind the defensive line and after a quick game of pinball between several players the ball eventually ended up in Jasinski’s hands as he smashed his way over the line under the posts. Osborn, now really into his rhythm, converted and suddenly the Saints were 15 points up. Stevenage kept coming and when a quick tapand not 10 lead to the sin binning of McCrystal they really felt they could make a comeback. Again they attacked but this time it was replacement full back Charlie who put in the big last ditch hit and the Saints could clear their lines once more. There was still time for one last try for the Saints and this was the pick of the bunch.

A turn over just outside their 22 saw the ball move quickly through the hands to JD on the wing. The looping Jasinski received a return pass and made huge yards up the left hand side. Quick ruck ball to a rampaging Yeti/Sayers took the saints to the edge of 22 before the ball was swung back out to the right where a perfectly weighted pass from Damien Poulter, who had been excellent all day, put JD into space. He accelerated away from the defence and over the line leading to the highest of complements to be showered upon him from the touchline. “That old winger is pretty good isn’t he.” Charlie rediscovered his kicking form from earlier in the game and sent it somewhere into the
next door neighbours garden leaving the Final score 25 -5.

Both sides continued to battle hard but no further scores could be conjured up and the final whistle went with a well-deserved victory to the Saints. Huge credit goes the opposition who braved flaming cars on the A1 to make the game happen and were always in the game and also to the ref who was clear and calm throughout. Saints will take a lot of heart from an excellent performance as they take on Hertford and Hemel in the next two weeks.