Back in November '24, Harpenden were visitors to Silver Leys and ran out clear and worthy winners by 41 points in the league, on that day our lads could only get get 5 points on the scoreboard. Today our B-team squad showed the progress they have made this season by scoring an impressive 34 points against a strong Harpenden squad, unfortunately it was not quite enough to give us the win.
We got off to a good start, opening the scoring after six minutes when Ali M picked up the ball on half way from a fantastic pas from Sam F and spotted a gap to run into to give us a 5-0 lead. Harpenden responded with three tries (two conversions) in an eight minute period where our defence seemed to fall flat and forward pack were slow to offer support when we did make a break. We did get back on the score board on 25 minutes, Sam F, Ali M and Will S linking well to give Will space to run down the wing and take the ball below the posts to give Sam F an easy conversion to make it 12-19. Just as we were thinking that one more try before half time would see us back in the game, Harpenden pounced once more and ended the half with an un-converted try to make it 12-24 at the break.
The second half started with the visitors maintaining the momentum they had at the end of the first, a converted try after just a minute of the re-start put them 12-31 up. But the Stortford forward pack had taken on board the 'constructive criticism' offered by the coaching team at half time and put into action the mauling drills they had been practising in training sessions, Dylan S taking the ball and driving low over the line to score his first try of the season. Harpenden once more opened the gap with another converted try before a great driving run from and offload pass from Murray to Dillon L saw the centre find a gap to score near the posts, Sam F converting to take the score to 24-38. Once again, our defence was too slow to respond and Harpenden ran in another converted try just five minutes later - 24-45. Defensive mistakes from the visitors offered us more opportunities though and a series of penalties against them lead to Dylan S driving over for his second try after a quick tap and go. Two more Harpenden tries took them out of reach but Stortford heads did not drop and we scored the final and most celebrated try of the game when another quick tap and go saw Dylan S flick the ball on to Caleb who fell just short of the line before Muzza picked up the ball and drove over the line for his first but well deserved try of his Youth rugby career making the final score 34-57. A tough game but a definite improvement from our lads today, six tries (three from our forwards) against a tough team is no small feat, they know what they have to do and look forward to our next fixture against Twickenham in the league.
Start player was awarded to Sam F by the opposition, a dominant performance from him today showed that he is heading back to full strength, but it was Murray C who took home the signed match-ball as a memento of his long awaited try, the whole squads delight for him demonstrating the bond that has been forged between our boys - long may it last as we approach the step up to Colts!