Stortford 4's (89) vs Hemel 3's (0)

Hemel kicked off and Stortford were quickly on the front foot making good yards through the forwards and quickly spreading the ball wide through the backs. If anything Stortford started with too much ambition which led to a number of handling errors and knock-ons.

The Hemel scrummage initially held up well considering it was 6 against 8 but Stortford did well in open play to compete at the breakdown and repeatedly won turnover ball starving Hemel of possession.

Stortford slowed things down a little reducing the errors and the tries quickly started to follow.

We all know how hard it is to be constantly defending and Hemel started to tire midway through the first half losing out at the set piece and in open play and had no answer to Stortfords forwards or backs.

Towards the end of the first half Steve Smith donned a Hemel Shirt and joined the fray followed by Rod Tankard at the start of the second half. Andy Southgate swapped shirts with Allen Griffiths and that completed the changes for the remainder of the match. Thanks to all of our guys who stepped in to play for Hemel. I know it’s a pretty thankless task and you all showed great sportsmanship.

Stortford continued to run in tries from all over the pitch and with such a large lead it would have been very easy to switch off and get sloppy but I’m pleased to say that Stortford maintained discipline in both defence and attack and continued to pile on the points.
There were stand out performances throughout the team with Brownie and Steve Green controlling things nicely and with strong running and great support work from everybody else on the pitch.

Aaron Mahony, Ryan Griffiths and Tom Brady all got hatricks with Jon Doolan, John Skelton and Steve Green getting 2 each and a single try from Mark Brown. Steve Green converted 4 of his kicks.

Man of the match was Josh Prime for some strong scrummaging and for almost walking in a try from the 22 with 3 or 4 people hanging off of him only to get hauled down half a metre short and for his pop pass to be judged forward by the referee. Josh also reminded everybody that he has a huge boot when he kicked from our own 22 into the Hemel 22. Unfortunately he also reminded everybody that he is out and out front row with his woeful/non-existent chase.
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Dick of the day was Aaron Mahony for making a sensational break, busting 2 tackles, side stepping another defending to run in completely unchallenged under the posts clearly dropping the ball as he was grounding it. His face was priceless and the guilty look left the ref in absolutely no doubt that he’d fumbled it.

This was a terrific all round team performance and I look forward to carrying our momentum forward to Royston next week.