We start this week's offering with a brief synopsis and view of the last two weeks matches summed up by Pete_the_Pundit

Back-to-back victories over Sudbury and Letchworth strengthened Hertford’s impressive
start to the season, leaving them with four wins from their opening five games.

These results felt particularly significant given the challenges both sides have posed in
recent seasons, particularly local rivals Letchworth, who had become something of an arch
Nemesis.

A fortnight ago, Sudbury arrived at Hoe Lane boasting a perfect record of three wins from
three. They showed their quality in a back-and-forth encounter, but a strong final 20 minutes from Hertford saw them edge out the visitors 29-26. It proved to be a day for the forwards, with Steff Jones capitalising on Hertford’s dominant maul to claim a first-half hat-trick.
Sonny Swift then got himself on the scoresheet before Christy Basra's winning try late on.

Last weekend the team had a short journey to Letchworth on a wet windy day, hindering the
opportunity for a free flowing game. Hertford took advantage of this, once again utilising their forward pack to secure a 7-19 victory.

There was an early glimpse of both sides’ pace in the backs, as Josh Parkhouse gave Letchworth the lead, only for Finn Parker to quickly respond for Hertford. The forwards took over in the second half, and it was a sense of déjà vu from the Sudbury fixture when Steff Jones and Christy Basra crossed the line to seal a great
away win.

Hertford head into this weekend’s home fixture against Southend sitting third in the table.
Given their recent form, they will be confident of making it three consecutive wins.

This season's excellent start now sees us lying in third place, just one point behind the leaders, however, the flip side of that is the Sixth placed team are themselves just one win off the lead. It looks more and more likely that this league could be decided by bonus points gained.

The significance of last week's win over at Letchtworth should not be underestimated. Over the past few seasons we have had some very close games against Letchworth. To my mind the difference has been belief. The best sides always believe they can win and will more often than not find a way to do so.

This season we are starting to become one of those sides with that belief. Whilst we have had quite a few changes in personnel on the field, the spine of the team has remained
relatively stable and despite the retirement of some of the ‘Old Guard’ over the past couple of seasons, this still relatively young side is starting to mature nicely together.

For this week's game, on paper, we are likely to start favorites but underestimate Southend at your peril. With the return to Hoe Lane of Ben Lloyd it is fairly certain that Southend would love to put down a marker and therefore any slip-ups or lack of concentration is likely to be punished. There are no easy games in this league.

Talking of changes in team personnel, this week sees the home debut of Toby Ferguson. Previously from Tynedale and more recently Exeter uni, Luke is now working at Haileybury and should be a strong addition to the squad. We wish him well.

See you there, mine’s a Guinness.