Bishops Stortford B vs Hertford B

At the first whistle, Stortford pressed the Hertford defence & created quick ruck ball. This set the tempo for the whole game. Excellent forward support saw Kenny Reader go over for the first try. Stortford forwards realised that the recent emphasis on controlled forward drives was paying dividends when another attack & forward drives resulted in Fred White crossing the line with Ken Reader driving him over – 10 nil.

This pattern continued with controlled forward drives involving Ollie Willson & Taha Alibhai, releasing the back line when space was created. Further attacking play & a scrum near the Hertford line saw Kenny go over again from a pick up at 8. Ken added his third try shortly after giving a 20 nil lead. Hertford came back strong & with a couple of missed timed tackles, half time saw Stortford with a 20 – 12 lead.

Hertford came out for the second half determined to have a go & quickly broke through a couple of tackles to score. 20-17 & game on! The Blues forwards decided once again to take the game on & with more controlled close forward drives created the space & time for the back line to flourish. Giannluca, playing his first game at fly half grabbed Stortford first try of the half, quickly followed by Alex Rinaldi-Jones being put over on the wing by some great hands in the centres. Charlie Kettle showed great pace by beating the defence on the outside from 20 metres then closely followed by a storming run round the outside buy Alfie Newman. With Gianlucca adding a conversion, Stortford finally ran out winners by 42 – 22.

A great game, nervous at times, the lads played to the plan & with fantastic commitment. Well done the entire squad.