Hertford welcomed Westcombe Park to a sunny but blustery Hoe Lane and the large crowd were treated to feast of running rugby by the home side which resulted in a bonus point win with seven tries scored in the process.

With Hertford’s warm up being enhanced by some perhaps injudicious chat, they began brightly with the pack carrying with great intent, and from the back of a ruck just outside the visitors twenty two fly half Ben Lloyd’s delicious inside pass found full back Sean Taylor cutting a sharp line. Although the full back was grounded he managed to find the supporting Michael Sargeant who dotted down under the sticks leaving Lloyd a routine conversion 7-0

Park then had a chance to get on the scoreboard with a kick for goal but the attempt drifted wide and when they failed to gather the restart the loose ball was taken by Taylor who raided from deep in his own half before feeding scrum half Sargeant who put winger Michael Allen in the left corner for the score. 12-0

Hertford’s eagerness to impose themselves at the breakdown then coughed up a couple of penalties in front of the posts and these were duly dispatched to reduce the deficit to 12-6

What followed was a period of possession for Hertford keeping the ball alive they went through countless phases before on the half hour mark centre’s Luke Sloan and Stuart Smart combined to to take the ball deep into Park’s red zone, from an ensuing ruck a Lloyd miss pass on the short side found winger Ben Creasey who stepped and took the covering defender with him over the white wash for the try. Lloyd then splendidly improved the score with the conversion. 19-6

Hertford’s tempo was now high and may have scored again before the break when Sloan was hauled down just short of the line and despite periods of further ball retention they were not able to increase the score before the half time cuppa.

Hertford started the second forty with the same energy as the first and although the visitor’s fielded the restart the pressure and line speed from the Hoe Lane side was such that they soon regained custody of the ball. At a ruck twenty five metres out from the Park line Sargeant sniped evasively at pace before popping the ball to Sloan who went on a curving run behind the posts to net the try bonus and allow Lloyd to add the extra two to his tally 26-6

Sloan was then to bag his brace soon after and this was a gem of a try, from a scrum just inside the opposition half the ball was taken up the right flank before a five man passing interchange saw the ball swung to the left wing where Lloyd’s quick feet allowed him to present the ball to Sloan who crashed over next to the left post from about five metres out. Amidst the shouts of ‘one more year’ Lloyd calmly slotted the conversion 33-6

Westcombe Park to their credit continued to battle with a spell with the ball in hand but Hertford were at the races in this contest and did not allow the south Londoners to settle into any sort of rhythm. A strong double tackle with support forced a turnover which saw Brett McNamee charging toward the Park twenty two, once again the ball was skilfully transferred across the full width of the pitch and from a ruck now scrum half Creasey found Lloyd on the blind side he then showed great dexterity to flip the ball to Allan who touched down in the corner 38-6

Hertford were not finished yet and when they gained a scrum time penalty in their own half Lloyd used the wind well to put his side some metres into Park’s half. With the lineout secured the ball off the top set the home sides backs away again, great interlink play had the opposition defence on the back foot and when at the rear of a ruck a delayed pass by Creasey found the marauding Louis Castiglione, the cover was not able to reorganise in time to prevent the prop from roaring in for the score. Lloyd was on target with conversion to complete Hertford’s scoring for the day 45-6

The visitor’s scored the final try of the day with a close range converted effort but that couldn't take the shine of what had been an excellent performance by the men in blue and fine entertainment for those attending the sponsor’s and patrons lunch. Tenacity and togetherness were the blue print for this display and that will be needed again for our next encounter v Southend who still have plenty to play for. FT score 45-13.