Hertford's fine home record was maintained as they held onto a deserved 27-23 victory against a pacy Shelford side that kept coming back into the game.

Friday's 'View from the Balcony' provided the essential strategic overview for the Club and the weekend, and confirmed that the coaches had chosen to swap the positions of Louis Kendrick and Hem Johal, with Kendrick moving to full back, Matisse Sorce would come in for his first start of the season, and Kyle Lemon was back from injury. For the home crowd, it was also the first opportunity to see the young backrower Alex Kay (one of the "6 of the best" minis crew). All of them made vital contributions to the victory.

After the recent frantic games of catch-up, notably the home victory against Oundle where Hertford had gone 19-0 down, the away game to Tring where they went 3 tries down, and the previous week's valiant attempt to overturn Rochford's 47 points resulting to in 2 bonus points, this week it was Hertford that started with a bang and the opposition playing catch up. Whilst the initial bang was several minutes early, which meant that the VPs were still banging on in the clubhouse at their annual lunch, we are reliably informed (and assisted by Shelford's Youtube summary) that the try resulted from Hertford's very own tanned Baby Rhino, Josh Hewitt, charging up the centre, which lead to a lineout in Shelford's 22 and Stef Jones scooping up from 10 metres out and barrelling through defenders to score near the posts. The kick by Kendrick put Hertford 7-0 up.

Hertford were then caught offside, and Shelford made it 7-3.

Hertford continued to dominate possession, with the forwards combining particularly well in one phase with Matt Frere going through tackles before offloading to Fry, who then offloaded to Banna. Hertford were definitely on the front foot as the Bjorn Borg'ed Hem Johal orchestrated the waves of attack from fly half.

From an attacking lineout, Hertford punched up the middle and switched the play back down the blind side, where Kendrick linked to Jones who drew the defence and passed back to Kendrick who swallow dived as far as he could away from the posts to make his conversion that more worthwhile.

14-3 up and Hertford were literally flying. Further pressure was being applied as Hertford pinned Shelford into their 22 and were held up over the line. Shelford then gave away a penalty in front of the posts and Hertford went 17-3 up.

It was all Hertford. Arun Johal put in a massive hit forcing the turnover, and Hertford had another attacking lineout in Shelford's 22 as they pushed for the third try.

The momentum then changed as Shelford exerted control and showed their strengths. A well worked lineout move resulted in what looked like an effortless try to make it 17-8. Shelford then controlled possession, moving from one side of the pitch to another with decent offloading, and having made the space went over for an unconverted try out wide to make it 17-13.

In the dying moments of the half, Arun Johal made a break from his own half through the centres, chipped and chased into the Shelford 22, regathered and was dragged down just a few metres short. With the ball slowed down, Hertford patiently went through about 5 phases as they tried to get over the line for what would have been a much deserved third try. Unfortunately, the ball squirmed forward at a ruck and the opportunity was lost. 17-13 at half time. Around this time, Robinson had gone off with an ankle knock, and was replaced by the evergreen Lemon.

Hertford started the second half with determination and good control, forcing another penalty near the posts to stretch the lead to 20-13.

With Shelford rolling deep into the Hertford 22, Sorce not only ripped the ball from the Shelford attacker, he was able to break a couple of clawing tackles to force his way up to the 10 metre line, where he passed inside to the supporting Lemon who nudged the ball ahead, allowing Hertford to regain possession, and for the forwards to catch up. Again, good patient play, resulted in Jones committing two players and offloading to the bustling Key who powered through two tackles to score a cracking team try.

At 27-13 up and most of the possession in the second half, Hertford were definitely looking for the fourth try and a bonus point. This almost came as Hertford again careered into the Shelford 22 and Jones made some space along the touchline to sneak in, but had just put a foot in touch.

Hertford earned another penalty in a very kickable position just outside the Shelford 22. With the allure of the bonus point, the quick tap resulted in some scrappy play and Shelford turned the ball over, sprinting down to Hertford's 22 to force a scrum 10 metres out. Shelford tied in the Hertford defenders, and went over under the posts to make it 27-20. This was a significant turnaround, instead of establishing a commanding 17 point lead, Hertford were just 7 ahead and beginning to creak.

With time running out and Hertford losing Kendrick and then Rudling to the sin bin, Shelford were now in control. Whenever Hertford managed to get possession they seemed to kick it to the pacy Shelford backline, who kept coming back time and time again. Hertford's defence was immense as they repeatedly kept Shelford at bay, including a couple of lineouts in Hertford's 22. Whilst Shelford couldn’t get the decisive score, they could tell that they had got on top, and when given a penalty in a kickable position, they showed their winning intent by kicking it to go 27-23, presumably trusting that they could grab a try in the dying minutes to win. That Hertford held them out was a result of a huge defensive shift by Hertford. In particular, Fry, an indomitable tackle machine, got through a huge amount of work as Hertford put up the barricades and held on for the final whistle.

As a post-script, Macca confirmed, after the game, that he was stepping down as the Head Coach. He has put a huge amount of effort into the team over the past 18 months. Many of the home supporters only see the output of this hard work when they watch the 1st XV every other Saturday, and the home games last season and this season have been a great advert for the Club. On Saturday, the VPs were very proud of the young emerging tenacious talent on display. Being a Young / Old Fart means that you are always interested in who will be taking the Club forward on the pitch, who is wearing the shirt that you wore and how they will take it into the future. We are fortunate that the coaching team, led by Macca, have built and are continuing to build a team that will stand the test of time. Macca has provided the platform for a new cohort to come through, many of whom he had helped develop during their youth rugby. Macca's influence will still be felt through the Rugger Rooz, the Hertford Under 10s, and Richard Hale youth that come through the Club.

Player of the Match: Banna (usual attacking threat, and dynamite defence)

Tries: Jones, Kendrick, Key

Conversions: Kendrick x3

Penalties: Kendrick x 2

Team: Matt Frere, Steff Jones, Josh Hewitt, Joe Tracy, Sonny Swift, Alex Kay, Tremaine Fry, Alex Banna; David Hale, Hem Johal, Joe Robinson, Arun Johal, Josh Rudling, Matisse Sorce, Louis Kendrick; Cam Rastall, Will McKenna, Kyle Lemon.