Bishops Stortford 26 - 20 Hertford 3s

Bishops Stortford came out on top in the local mud wrestling derby, as the Hoes lose their first league game of the season.

After at least 40 days of heavy rain, the Stortford pitches were somewhat saturated, but it was good to see that the game go ahead given the numerous cancellations this season.

It's unclear as to whether it was the righteous that were saved from the flood, but the Hoe's Noah, Dave Albon, just about kept Hertford's head above the water as both teams traversed the lake like pitch to find the higher ground. If he had brought two of his kicking tees, he might have got the conversions to win the game!

Hertford started strongly, with the leviathan like front row of Van Der Ryst / Hollis / Humphries dominating in the set piece, and the rest of the pack asserting themselves on the Stortford team. As ever, Ellis the scrapper was scraping up the morsels left by the forwards, and he scooped up the ball to break through into the Stortford 22 with at least 5 team mates either side of him in support. Faced with a single defender, Ellis took the scrappy scrum half option of running straight at him. Turn over.

Given the tide, Stortford struggled to get out of their half, and Hertford continued to pressurise for most of the first 20 minutes. Hollis took a quick penalty and made lots of yards as he thundered into the Stortford 22 to earn a scrum. Huge pressure from the pack, and Roe (not the match reporting Northern one) broke from the base but was held up over the line, allowing Stortford to clear the ball.

When Stortford finally secured some good possession, deep in their half, they swung the ball out to their quick and powerful backs, who skipped round the puddles, and ran through to score.

Stortford repeated this trick again a few minutes later. After lots of pressure and paddling up stream, Hertford found themselves 14-0 down.

Taking a note from the Stortford book, Hertford decided to do some damage through their very youthful and speedy back 3 of Elliot, Noah, Lloyd, together with Anstead at outside centre. An actual Noah ran the ball back strongly at Stortford, and Anstead sailed through the Stortford defence to score. The considerably less youthful and speedy Albon was then on hand to score as well. No conversions from Albon, and it was 14-10 (or thereabouts) at half time.

The second half followed a similar pattern as Hertford exerted considerable pressure through the forwards and pinned Stortford into their own 22. Troll at open side was putting in some powerful tackles and keeping Stortford shackled. Despite much grunting, we couldn’t score. Stortford then repeated their first half expansive exploits. Collecting a ball behind their own try line, they ran it out a la 1980s Serge Blanco, and despite getting chopped down a few times, they had lots of support to go from post to post for an audacious score. Probably around 21-10.

Hertford got back into it by reverting to the set piece. Having secured a scrum 10 metres out, the leviathan lumbered forward, and Roe waded over to score from No 8. No confirmation required that the conversion was missed. 21-15 ish. Unfortunately injuries meant that the scrum went uncontested and Hertford were no longer able to resort to their comfort zone.

Stortford then did more running and scored another try to make it about 26-15.

Things were tough for Hertford with little possession and no territory. Muddy wave after muddy wave of Bishops stoutly forded the puddles, and Hertford looked marooned. Time and tide wait for no man, and Hertford were up against both as they desperately tried to get back in the game.

With just a few minutes left, Hertford were spurred into action after Adams took a big hit; the blood was up, and Hertford finally forced their way into the Stortford 22. Stortford were giving away penalties, as Hertford were desperate to finish on a high. Decent phase play, with some great powerful runs from Humphries, resulted in Hertford spreading the ball wide for Adams to slide in at the corner for a valedictory score. Another Albon conversion miss, and some people thought the final score was 26-20.

Oarsmen: Van Der Ryst, Hollis, Humphries, Dixon, Poulter, Gawthorne, Troll, Roe; Roberts, Albon, Jordan, Adams, Anstead, Lloyd, Noah

Coxs: Griffiths, Flaherty, Ellis, Church

Scorers: Anstead, Albon (no conversions), Roe, Adams

Beer buyer: Seabrook

Our dearly Northernly departed reporter, Luke Roe, is sorely missed. Let's hope he sees the error of his ways, or the paucity of teeth in South Yorkshire, and heads back south.