The first home game of the season gave the Hoe Lane crowd an opportunity to see some of the potential for the future. Not since the turn of this century has Hertford seen such a clutch of quality local young players come through to play for the 1st XV. Not everything went to plan on the pitch, but it is clear that there is scope for things to come together and results to improve. With the exceptional coaching structure that the club has in place to develop the squad, the future is bright.

In the circumstances it was appropriate that Hertford welcomed Royal Tunbridge Wells, and that they were indeed victorious.

There had been some disruption in the build-up to the game as the experienced and influential Alex Banna, James Kingsley and Kyle Lemon were all injured. Nonetheless this gave the opportunity for some further youth in the form of Steff Jones and Adam Drew coming in for their debuts, as well as the wise head of Will Brady to shore up the second row. Jones, the itinerant No 8 / hooker who has returned from university, showed the vision and touches that led to him being selected for the Hertfordshire County side whilst he was still at Richard Hale school (it is understood that his school / county / club coach denies all charges of nepotism but does take all available credit). Drew, who is even younger, has the speed and strength to create problems and made good decisions in defence. Brady was welcomed back, and showed his customary handling skills and graft in the tight, and will have plenty to offer the younger players.

Another senior player, Chris Joannou came in to lead the side, uniting the roles of Club Captain and 1st XV Captain, and led from the front. His warhorse style of play was on display as he barrelled with the ball, and dominated in defence.

A youthful side leavened with experienced players is great template for the rest of the season.

Notwithstanding the optimism and vision for the club set out by President 'Per Diem' Maslinski and Joint Head of Rugby Murphy at the pre-match lunch, the Hertford team started very slowly. We were quickly 7 points behind following some confusion about how to defend a 5 metre lineout, and the sizeable Tunbridge maul was easily able to trundle to the line.

Following a neat break by Liam Batty (in at fly half this week, with Harry Holman moving to full back), we looked on the verge of breaking away when the ball was spilled, and Tunbridge counter attacked by spreading the ball to the other side of the pitch and scoring.

Having gone 12-0 down, we finally took a hold of the game after 30 minutes assisted by the Tunbridge winger taking a 10 minute rest.

Sonny Swift showed his athleticism in putting pressure on the Tunbridge kicks and made ground having charged one down. Whilst the ball was turned over, it showed that Hertford had finally got into the game. In particular, David Hale kept the temp up and used Jones regularly as an open field runner and off the scrum. Following a decent set of phases, including a muscular break through the ruck by Josh Rudling, Tunbridge were penalised and we kicked for the corner. Controlled patient play by the forwards, including a burst from Christy Basra, led to Luke Stack showing good strength to force his way over on the far left hand side. It is good to have Stack back in the team. The conversion was missed.

A muddle at the restart led to Hertford conceding a penalty that the Tunbridge 10 punished to make it 5-15.

It was then Tunbridge's turn to concede possession off the restart when Drew leapt high to disrupt the Tunbridge forwards, and a penalty was conceded. The ever energetic Hale took the quick penalty and urged the forwards to attack the narrow side, and after some phases Hale saw some space and chipped ahead. Jones showed composure to get ahead of the Tunbridge defenders and then hold back as the ball bounced, before carrying the ball over on the far right hand side. The conversion was missed but at 10-15 at half term Hertford were flying and showing that they could cause all sorts of trouble for Tunbridge.

The second half was something to look forward to. Unfortunately, whilst Hertford started the second half well they could not maintain the pressure and Tunbridge squeezed Hertford out of the game.

Hertford initially pinned Tunbridge back, and Harry Holman from full back was showing his pace and jinking running to make ground, but not quite breaking through. Johal also got some runs down the left wing. Tunbridge weathered this spell, and came back to score another converted try to make it 22-10.

The coaches then mixed things up with Dom Merrett replacing Drew and debutants Didi Adegun and Alex Pearson on for Craig Bellringer and Jones. Liam Brady and Holman also swapped positions.

Adegun was straight into defensive action with two consecutive tackles and then a turn-over in one set of phases, and continued in that vein throughout the half. Another penalty was conceded however, and Tunbridge extended their lead to 25-10, followed by yet another penalty to make it 28-10. With 20 minutes to go, it didn’t look like Hertford could come back to win but there was a prospect of a bonus point or two, and Tunbridge also had the incentive of bonus point.

Despite a lot of possession, with Holman trying to maintain urgency in the mid-field and Josh Wood and Harry Barker making good ground, Herford were not breaking the gain line enough and Tunbridge looked comfortable in defence. The game petered out as the players looked like they had run to a standstill.

The evening saw the traditional shaken pernods for the debutants in the 'tight and loud' dress code. Special mention to some of the non-playing squad that chose to spend the entire day in their very tight and very small and very loud attire.

The coaching team of Brett McNamee, Richard Gregg, Robbie Morris, Harry Hicks, overseen by Michael Owen, will look forward to getting the players ready for the visit to Cow Lane, Tring next week.

1st XV Team:

Stack, Basra, Bellringer (Adegun), Swift, Brady, Joannou (c), Wood, Jones (Pearson); Hale, Batty, Johal, Barker, Rudling, Drew (Merrett), Holman

Tries: Stack, Jones