Hemel Hempstead 2s 0 v BSRFC Extra A 54

Halloween Saturday saw the Extra A travel across the county to face Hemel Hempstead 2's. After last week.s impressive win over Fullerians spirits were high in the camp and we had a very strong side out, though unfortunately skipper Matt Slade was once again unavailable, a paper cut sustained at work on his left index finger was this time his excuse.

Stortford started the game with the advantage, both the bright sun and slight breeze behind them. Despite this, it was the home side who asserted pressure within the opening minutes as Stortford were forced to defend inside their own 22. As last week though, the defence held firm with some big hits going in from Ben 'The Saint' Baker and Alex Kiff. The deadlock was broken somewhat against the run of play when a Hemel knock on gave the ball to Stortford who sent it wide to outside centre Mike Roberts who showed searing pace, excellent feet and a big fend on their 15 to run 60+ metres to dot down under the sticks for his first of the day. After this try, Stortford gained confidence and started to really apply the pressure. We should really have been up by more, but silly handling errors marred the game. After about 20 minutes though, Roberts again found space and scored probably the best try of the day. He took the ball in space, danced around two players, and then two more, when faced with a one-on-one with the fullback he had the audacity to chip it over his head, gather it and score untouched. Impressive.

Stortford followed this immediately from the kick off when the ball was recycled wide quickly and found it's way into the hands of Saint Baker. The openside showed impressive pace to run around the outside and finish from way inside his own half; he was particularly unimpressed with the opposing full back who decided to follow him all the way back. No one likes a chaser. Roberts completed the half, and his hatrick with another run in out wide. All first half extras were added by stand in skipper Sperm; they were all really hard.. honest. 28-0 up at half time, lovely.

The second half again started well for the extra A, with the forwards starting to apply the pressure all over the park. The lineout was running well, with Finch feeding the flying Scotsman John Carter well and the resulting driving mauls making excellent yards. From then on in it really was all Stortford, who repelled their opponents on the rare occasions that they did run at us. Brunner carried well and was backed up by the ever reliable Copper and Mackenzie. The first try of the second half however went to.. yep, Roberts, who made a few people look silly and touched down close to the posts. The next try went to Sperm, who capitalised on a Hemel mistake to fly hack over the line, outpace all of their backs, do some kick ups under the posts, bicycle kick it off the right upright and eventually touch it down. The next try was sexy, call me arrogant, but it was fit. A delicate chip inside the Hemel 22 from Spermy saw Kiff run on and catch it on the full to fall under the posts. Stig dog was last to cross the whitewash, showing power and good feet from a set piece backs move.

All round it was a good day for the Extra A who have now won their last 3 league games. Great performances from so many, particularly Ronan who came on in the back row to make his debut and showed serious promise. However, it is hard to ignore the 4 tries, and they were good tries, of Mikey Roberts so he was MOM. D**k of the day must go to the Stig dog, for literally forgetting how to play rugby for the first 20 minutes of the game.