Hackney 2nd XV 27 - 0 Bishop's Stortford 5th XV
The Gargoyles faced a potentially difficult game on two fronts this week, firstly to overcome a revenge hunting Stortford side who had been beaten well earlier in the season and secondly to match the performance of their last outing.
The game begun 15 minutes late and to their credit Stortford were competitive and strong, considering that they had arrived very shortly prior to kick off. A mature and well fed pack took Hackney on in the set piece and tight phases, although beyond the scrum half things did not go their way. Hackney’s forwards realised the opposition game plan and bided their time, kept the competition levels high and waited for fatigue and fitness to do their work. The first half was finely balanced, Stortford pack going forwards, Hackney backs counter attacking. Had it not been for errors from both teams the half time score line could have had a very different look to it. Not until the final 10 minutes of the half did Hackney’s superior game awareness, skill and fitness begin to tell. Flair from the Hackney back 3 was abundant throughout the game, Jonny playing his first full game at fullback was superb. Some notable tackles came from Guy, Damien and debutant Joe Lane. The final play of the half saw Joe pick up the first of his brace of tries, a blow to Stortford who had battled well and were only 3 points down at 39 minutes 50 seconds.
A shuffle of players at half time was designed to maximise Hackney’s advantages and give all those named game time. John Young came into the second row, Joe Lane going to blind side flank, as Guy had received a tweak in the warm up, and Ben Scott-Robinson replacing Jon Williams. Blake was to replace Arif at 50 minutes.
The second half was dominated by Hackney who gained the upper hand in the tight and total superiority in the back line. Within 9 minutes of the restart two tries were scored on the right wing as the opposition had no answer to accurate hands and raw pace. Again the curse of the Hackney penalty count began to strike, allowing Stortford more possession than they deserved. A groin strain forced Matthieu off at 65 minutes, seeing Jon back on at loose head. It must be noted that Matthieu had got off a plane from America at 10am and came straight down to play. Further scrum dominance followed up until the point that the opposition hooker had to retire and no replacement could be found, when the dreaded uncontested scrum was imposed. However, this made no impact on Hackney’s go forward play, allowing Blake a try again scored on the right wing. Matt Hanton was beginning to believe that this was a conspiracy to upset his kicking statistics, 50% today, but on the plus side he now actually fits into the 10 shirt beating his personal target of the end of season!
Special mention must go to Owen Chadwick, who ran some terrific lines throughout the game, but was not rewarded with a score to his name. Enterprise in the backs was evident today but not just enterprise but effectiveness also. The forwards had the best lineout performance of the season so far, they tackled well and waited for the time to deliver the killer punch. This group of players are not only better rugby physically but are now playing it with the top two inches also.