Datchworth vs 3rds

Report by Mark Prangnell

This weekend the 3s went to Datchworth and although missing some players, spirits were high and players were keen to get on the pitch. Both Datchworth and St Albans were low in numbers and so Datchworth lent St Albans a player to make it 13 v 13.
After both sides lined up on the half way line to pay respects to the fallen, the game got under way. For the first 15 minutes Datchworth battled hard, making driving runs into the St Albans defence, making some hard yards but unable to find that telling break and being turned over or spilling the ball due to the robust defence of the Saints. This was compounded by the boot of Joe Nelson who pinned them back in their own half. Then the first of many tries came which was converted by Harry. St Albans carried on pinning Datchworth in their own half and scored another 3 tries by half time which were all converted to make it 0-28 in favour of the visitors.
The second half started much the same and then Datchworth managed to find a hole out wide and their winger set off from their 22, making a great run avoiding several attempts to stop him, leaving just Jack Clayton to make a fantastic last ditch covering tackle, taking man and ball out of play just short of our 5 metre line!
There were more tries scored by the now rampaging Saints, the best of which started with Paul Coffey catching the restart and after taking the ball into contact, offloaded the ball out the back door to Jon Constantinou who was backed by Ian and after some lovely back and forth passing between them, passed the ball off to the mid feild to run it the short distance to the try line.
After a couple of nasty injuries to both sides and the game being out of reach for the home side, both captains agreed to call it a day.
I would like to thank firstly Datchworth for their hospitality and playing in the spirit of the game and also all of our players who turned up and put in such a fantastic performance it was a pleasure to watch!
oh and the final score for those who are still reading 0-49

MARK PRANGNELL