Reigned In at Old Deer !

The opportunity to play on the first team pitch at the Club that still holds the record for the most number of players supplied to a Lions Tour was the carrot that awaited in West London. A famous old Club and perfect conditions was the backdrop for our final Herts & Middlesex Div 4 League match of the season.

Previous visits to West London haven’t always gone well and so it looked early on as the home side opened the scoring after 3 minutes and then added a penalty with a quarter of the game gone. Despite going points down early on, Stortford raised their game but a missed penalty kick was run back by Welsh who scored their second try and added the conversion. They added the third after 25 minutes following some poor tackling and the scoreboard read London Welsh 22, Bishops Stortford 0. From that point however the visitors raised their game and but for a couple of handling errors, may well have scored some points themselves. As the half-time whistle blew it was Stortford playing the more positive rugby.

As the first half ended so the second began. Stortford came out and played the better rugby, and it was Townsend with a great show and go who touched down after 12 minutes with Richardson adding the extra 2 points. Despite continued Stortford pressure, too often passes didn’t go to hand or were dropped and it was Welsh who were next to score. Back on the attack however, Stortford were playing with more confidence and Wilkes added two really well finished tries to peg the scores back to 29-17 with just 10 minutes to play. The great comeback was not to be however and it was Welsh who added a further brace of scores, being deserved winners at the end on home turf.

Definitely a game of two halves and a tighter opening 15 minutes by the Blues may have led to a different outcome. Much credit goes to the players though, who fought and competed throughout and also to London Welsh, for their excellent hospitality.

Team: Marsh, Simons, Matthews, Williams, Dutta, Jones, Simpson, Goodfellow, Townsend, Heywood, Gleed, Abbott, Richardson, Woods, Hall, Wilkes, Allen, Langan, Easton, Obeng