WOW

The final game of the Herts County Finals day saw BSRFC U18's compete with arch rivals OA's for the Cup, with the organisers calling it their "showcase" event. OA's had managed to recall most of their academy players and the match day squad looked very strong on paper. With Stortford never having beaten them before, it was going to take a monumental effort from our guys to bring home the Cup, but this group of lads has developed as a team and their recent run of results in the National Plate competition has shown that they have learned how to win tight matches.

So game on....

Right from the kick off Stortford were fast and aggressive, which saw OA's having to deal with continued pressure in their own 22. A great clearing kick from the OA fly half turned the Blues around and they quickly found themselves defending on their own 5 meter line. The ball somehow managed to squirt out of the back of a ruck with an OA player gratefully dropping on to it for the opening score. The conversion fell short so after 5 minutes 5-0 to OA's. Would it be another tough day for our guys?

Stortford came back strong and continued to build pressure, with the OA's defence stretched on numerous occasions, but continuing to hold.

The Blues then lost Tom Langley Jones to a rib injury, who as the main line out jumper was a significant blow, but they continued to push.

After a strong rolling maul and a series of pick and go's around the fringes, scrum half Freddie Hatton spotted a gap and managed to snipe over to score. The conversion was missed, so scores now tied at 5-5.

From the restart, Storftord continued to apply pressure, but this was a quality OA's team and their backs counterattacked superbly which required some great scramble defence from Stortford to keep them out. The old adage "if it ain't broke don't fix it" saw Stortford maintain their use of the pick and go, whilst selectively moving the ball wide through both forwards and backs to test the OA defence. The pressure was telling on OA's and they conceded a couple of kickable penalties, but Harry Heywood's usually reliable radar was a little off and both went slightly wide of the posts.

Stortford continued to push and after another period of sustained pressure with the forwards working a combination of offloading and pick and go, Freddie Hatton was again on hand to dart over and score right on the stroke of half-time. The conversion was missed, so 10-5 to Stortford at half-time.

Clearly not expecting to be losing at the half way point, OA's came out blazing in the second half. They played their phases well and a missed tackle in the Stortford midfield allowed them to create an overlap which they clinically finished. The conversion was successful so 12-10 OA's with most of the second half still to play.

The remainder of the half was tense, with resolute defending on both sides making it difficult to create clear scoring chances. Tempers boiled over on a couple of occasions with the referee finally stepping in to give both captains a warning.

OA's managed to build phases in the Stortford half and a penalty in front of the posts was duly slotted to make the score 15-10 in their favour - Stortford now needed to score a third try if they were to win the game.

Clearly emotions were sufficiently high that the referee's earlier words of warning fell on deaf ears and a further skirmish right in front of the dugouts saw Stortford hooker George Durrant and the OA's flanker both given yellow cards.
An injury to Harry Goodman then resulted in a quick reshuffle of the pack with sub Charlie Birch coming on and going straight into a scrum as hooker. He managed to take it against the head (the props maintain it wasn't skill, he was still trying to figure out which way to set his feet!), but this allowed Stortford to continue to press in the OA's half.

Will Civil, returning from concussion, had replaced Alex Hughes at full back and he proved to be a real handful for the OA's defence, which culminated in a darting run from within his own half that was finally stopped by a last ditch tackle close to the OA's line - Harry Haywood had run a tremendous support line only to be smashed by a cover tackle just short of the line as he took an offload from the deck. The resulting phases saw OA's cynically kill quick ball at the breakdown, which resulted in another yellow card.

With time almost up, the penalty was tapped and the forwards picked up where they'd left off, patiently gaining yardage, which finally led to Harry Goodman (yes he'd told Mark Purdy he was going back on) squeezing over from the base of a ruck. Scores tied at 15-15, with the conversion to come that would win the game. With kicker Heywood now on the side line nursing a shoulder injury (see earlier getting smashed) no one was entirely sure who would step up and take the kick. Make it and you're a legend, miss and it'll live in your nightmares forever.

Up stepped Henry Felgate who had not taken a kick for us all season - he looked confident, but with Freddie Hatton already back near the halfway line on his knees and facing in the opposite direction, questions were asked whether he knew something that others did not?! Henry calmly placed the ball on the tee, took a couple of paces backwards, made sure his hair was looking good and then smashed it straight between the posts - never in doubt, 17-15 to Stortford, cue the final whistle and wild celebrations from players, coaches, parents and supporters alike. For anyone who missed the kick, Henry's dad has a video clip from the clubhouse balcony, which is his usual spot to engage in spot of "relationship building" with the OA's supporters.

On paper this was a game that OA's should have won and probably expected win, but games are not won by names on a team sheet, they are won by players on a pitch. Our lads wanted it more and I'm not sure you could have scripted the way in which they won any better. As a coaching group we were a little bit lost for words afterwards, but all agreed that this performance ranks right up there alongside anything that's gone before. The work rate from the forwards was immense, both with ball in hand and when scrapping to win it back and the backs played a controlled game, with good hands and defending solidly throughout. One player though does deserve a special mention and that is captain Alex Pilcher - he led this group brilliantly from the front - his work rate throughout the game was unsurpassed, whilst maintaining a calm that allowed him to manage the referee superbly.

But it does not end there - next week the lads go again in the National Plate final. One last effort to bring home some silverware in front of what we hope will be a huge crowd of Stortford supporters.