The league season had finished with an impressive (unreported) 5 point victorious flurry against high flying Colchester, which meant that Hertford finished 9th out of 12 teams. Given that the team had been at the bottom of the league at Christmas, 6 wins out of the 9 games since the turn of the year was a truly impressive turnaround and a testament to the efforts of the players, coaches, and wider club support.

After the tension and febrile excitement of the league, the Papa John's Cup competition was hopefully an opportunity for Herford to let loose and have some fun.

The new innovative end of season cup jamboree where sides at the same level across the various divisions get an opportunity to play against each has not been well embraced by all, but it sounds like a great idea that will hopefully take off after this experimental year. Hertford's cup group was meant to involve Weston Super Mare, but as they faced two trips to the London area they pulled out. This has left Herford playing Brighton at home and Civil Service away on 15 April.

For the Brighton game Hertford used the opportunity to try some new combinations and showcase some of the young talent that had taken the 2nd XV to league winners (their league had included the second teams for OAs and Eton Manor). 2nd XV "Player" Manager Dave Phillips was very vocal in his support for his players, but you know he wanted to be on the pitch himself!

Pace was definitely a feature of the youthful input, with players like Will McKenna at prop taking lines and searing through gaps in the Brighton defence, Sean Galvin and James Tan proving that front rowers can be genuinely quick, and the rangy Brad Robinson on the wing looking hungry for the ball at all opportunities so that he could show his speed.

There was plenty of enthusiasm and passion from Herford on the pitch, but not quite the same intensive concrete brutalism that has been a cornerstone of the league victories.

From the outset on a gloomy spring day, Brighton showed that they were up for the game and wanted to use their backs. They repeatedly found or forced holes in the Hertford defence, and scored two tries in the first 10 minutes to go up 0-12.

Despite some good rallying by the home side as they controlled possession for a long period in the first half, Hertford never got completely on top of the Brighton side who maintained a healthy lead throughout the game. There were several times that it felt like Hertford would stretch away from Brighton, but when it was needed the South Coasters were able to punch through Hertford's defence and stay ahead.

There were good breaks and sparks from Herford. Fry carried well, Basra battered through following a maul, Brady was keeping the ball alive with quick hands, Drew combined effectively with Cavlan as he showed his familiar strength to go through players, Robinson scampered through from deep to take a defensive position into a decent attacking one, Bridgewood showed good movement, and Lemon made one of his typical breaks. However the good stuff did not quite come together. It was like gluten free food, where you have the right ingredients but it doesn’t work if you cant stick it all together. Hertford did eventually score after the forwards got on top and Merrett did a delightfully outrageous dummy off the back of a maul to make it 5-12. As Hertford quite rightly pushed for more, another error was exploited by Brighton and they scored from distance just before half time to make it 5-19.

All that was wanted for the second half was a continuation of the positive work that had been done at the end of the first half. Unfortunately, Brighton showed more intensity from the outset and scored almost straight away to make it 5-24.

On the face of it, the challenge was not made easier as the influential Brady was given a somewhat one sided red card for an overly enthusiastic exchange of patter-cakes, but this propelled Hertford to their best spell of the game as indignation, righteous or otherwise, raged through the team. Fry made hard yards with a bulldozing carry, and eventually pressure on the Brighton backline resulted in Holman plucking a cheeky interception to go in under the posts 12-24. This was soon followed by Swift galloping through the tiring Brighton defence to make it 19-24. The comeback was on, and Brighton knew it. Having had a rare foray into the Herford half, Brighton grabbed the 3 points from a penalty to make it 19-27.

Against the run of play, Brighton then combined to score the best try of the day as they interchanged from in their own half to score to make it 19-34.

Herford were still not finished, and the every present poacher Jones was there to clean up the scraps to score to make it 26-34.

As the game entered the final few minutes, the next score was crucial as Hertford were still showing they could pull through. Unfortunately, Hertford conceded another penalty and the game was put out of reach 26-37.

It was a well deserved win for Brighton who will fancy their chances of progressing in this cup.

Team: Sean Galvin, Christy Basra, Will McKenna, Sonny Swift, Will Brady, Callum McGurk, Tremaine Fry, Stef Jones; Dom Merrett, Harry Holman, David Hale, Harry Cavlan, Adam Drew, Ben Bridgewood, Kyle Lemon.

James Tan, Liam Batty, Brad Robinson
Tries: Merrett, Holman, Swift, Jones
Cons: Lemon x3