Bishops Stortford 4’s (55) vs Hatfield 1’s (24)

Hatfield 1’s arrived at Silver Ley’s yesterday with 12 players and no front row which was a big disappointment as our 3’s, 4’s and 5’s had worked hard all week to field 3 competitive sides for their respective league and cup games. For the Chindits this included a number of guys who gave up long standing prior engagements to fulfil this re-arranged fixture which is typical of the commitment everyone has shown to the team this season. That commitment was further demonstrated when Steve Drew and Andy Simpson both agreed to make the best of a bad situation and play for the opposition allowing Stortford to have a competitive game.

Hatfield won the toss and opted to play with the club house at their backs leaving Sam Stockley to get the game underway with a deep kick that the Chindits pack chased down. The first few minutes of the game saw Stortford camped out in the Hatfield half with the Chindits forwards dominating the breakdown but the Hatfield backs showing why they have managed to pull off some good results this season by stretching the Stortford defence. The Chindits managed to put a few phases together and made their way into the Hatfield 22 before Stu Wilkins made a break and popped an inside pass to Sam Stockley who bundled his way under the posts before slotting the extras.

This led to a period of dominance for the Chindits with the forwards continuing to make inroads either offloading or going through the phases leading to 3 further tries scored in quick succession. As sometimes happens the early dominance led to a bit of complacency and Hatfield were quick to take advantage with two good team tries scored by their backs who continued to stretch the defence and a cheeky quick penalty to bring them within 7 points of the Chindits at the half time whistle.

Thankfully this blip was short lived and the Chindits were a different side after the break. The forwards showed a lot more aggression led by Brad Cox who put us firmly on the front foot with Tom England, Max Oliver, Dave Walker and James Copper also making good yards and Stu Wilkins always seemingly on hand for the offload. Jack FP was also back to his old self showing great pace and shrugging tackles off for fun. Ironically the only real resistance in the Hatfield forwards came from Andy Simpson and Steve Drew who threw everything they had at Stortford and, once again, were the stand out players for the opposition forwards.

The Chindits forwards dominance allowed the backs to gain some real traction with Tom Brady and Sam Stockley working well together and providing quick ball for Stu Thomas, Toby Fazan, Nick Clayton, Matt Howard and Jake Brough to create havoc for the Hatfield defence. The Chindits scored a further 6 tries in the second half (although the referee only recorded 5 of them) leaving the final tally as follows:

1. James Copper
2. Stu Wilkins
3. Tom England
4. Rob Neal
5. Dave Walker
6. Jack FP (*3)
7. Max Oliver
8. Brad Cox (*1)
9. Tom Brady
10. Sam Stockley (*1)
11. Nick Clayton
12. Toby Fazan
13. Stu Thomas
14. Matt Howard (*1)
15. Jake Brough (*4)
16. Andy Simpson
17. Steve Drew

There were a number of candidates for man of the match. Stu Wilkins had a great game giving the forwards some real momentum as did Matt Howard and Nick Clayton providing some real pace and great defence out wide. Brad Cox was a real handful in attack and defence and Jack FP and Jake Brough put their hands up scoring 3 and 4 tries respectively but, in spite of all this, man of the match had to go Andy Simpson and Steve Drew for giving it their all in the Hatfield Colours. Thanks a million guys!

Dick of the day goes to Tom Brady who had a great game and made a terrific offload to Jake Brough in the second half but also threw a complete hissy fit in the first half when the Chindits started leaking tries proving that he really is a natural 9.

Once again, well done to all involved yesterday. It was a really good performance that puts us second in the league and should give us great confidence heading into the cup fixture against Weston on the 25th March.