What the assembled veterans lacked in speed, fitness, and development potential, they made up for in wizened curmudgeon. The team's mantra used to be 'turn up, moan, win'; unfortunately, we only achieved 66% in this test as a more balanced Datchworth side finally outran the Termites and ended up worthy winners.

The game also marked an initial send off for a player that has given 36 years to the Club. In light of the Termite demographics, we should be well versed in valedictory homagery, but the elixir of very social rugby somehow manages to keep the players going. Nonetheless, we all become ex-players, and this august auburn titan has given everything to the Termites and the Club. We won't miss the infernal buffalo, but we will miss the wholeheartedness, the unstoppable rumbles, the tries, the lineout talent (it is actually quite hard) and the songs. Here's to you Jonny Hollis. As you would expect, this was not a subdued evanescence but a full throated assault on the dying light. For someone that has always pleaded Moroccan sunset, he went out like a raging red bull until his shoulder finally gave way. Hopefully there will be a couple more games this season for him as he prepares to transfer his passion into coaching, for which his daughter and her teammates will be the very grateful beneficiaries.

With a game to win against former school and club teammates, the Termite old timers were delighted to have a couple of players born this century to help take on the running load, albeit Kimsey is probably learning a bit too much about the Termite arts and less about running. Unadulterated and barely adulted Stringer (not that one) was a very welcome Friday night pub recruit.

With a game based around the power of three (and Datchworth's free-flowing rugby), the opposition started at pace down the hill and ripped through the Hertford defence time and again to go 3 tries and 19-0 up within 15 minutes.

The shell shocked Hertford team had barely had time to breathe, and couldn’t when they did find the time, and also lost their main / only wheels in Holmes to a calf injury, and their less wheely Lacey to a nasty typical old man's achilles injury.

In the event that there was any doubt about the approach that the Termites had to take, they went full frontal. Hertford spent the rest of the half pounding away through the big boys who had put their big boy pants on. They enjoyed plenty of possession as high flying Scully dominated the lineout in attack and defence, and the electric grid Giddings energised the forwards with his eveready brand of rugby. The team worked extremely hard to get up the pitch and into positions that they could score from (i.e. close range).

First up, after repeated phases, Bailey neatly released Burton who had found some space out wide to score. Burton has been an absolute revelation since returning to rugby in the last couple of months – strong, pacey, and powerful in defence - and all done from the unfamiliar wing position! He has epitomised how a winger can get involved in all aspects of the game, even if they aren’t a winger.

Hertford continued to batter away, with Hollis grabbing hold of the ball at every opportunity. Another solid lineout gave the hooker an opportunity to steer the maul towards the line and force himself over to make it 10-19 (look out for the earliest recorded Hollis Jr try for the Hertford U8s in September 1993 –these Termite match reports won't make it into the publication formerly known as the Mercury newspaper!).

After the difficult start to the game, Hertford were on top. Indeed just as the half was finishing, Captain Gawthorne broke through and may have grounded the ball – or maybe not. It would have brought the scores almost parallel at half time, but Hertford went in 10-19 behind.
The good work continued in the second half as Hertford went down the hill, but they had to expend a huge amount of energy to make the yards – and lost further players as The OG Captain went off.

Bailey was beginning to find space in the backs as he skipped through tackles, and linked up well with Clarke who had become the gas man in the centres, repeatedly cutting lines through the Datchworth defence. For his first game in c8 years it was great to see Clarke back out there and doing the running that the rest of us could not.

Giddings continued to cajole the team, two or three steps ahead in ambition and fitness from the rest of the players and not getting all of the support he needed. After an effective but brutal rolling maul from another good lineout, Giddings realised that the pack had nothing left; whilst he has stolen a huge number of tries over the years from 10 cms out after the hard work of the forwards, this one did require some pace and power as the forwards had run out of gas 10 metres short, and he slalomed his way over in the corner.

15-19 and Hertford had countered Datchworth's quick fire 3 tries with 40 minutes of hard graft to score 3 tries in reply.

Was this the precipice, and the point that Hertford would break the Datchworth team?

With a defensive scrum 10 metres out from the Datchworth line, the Hertford pack put the pressure on, and Giddings disrupted as it looked like Hertford would regain possession, only for their nimble scrum half to scrabble the ball away, releasing the dangerous backline who then ran the length of the pitch to score under the posts. Just at the point where Hertford could have finally gone ahead, Datchworth remembered that they had the pace outside to do damage. They repeated this again, and then scored from good support play from the forwards. Their initial burst of 3 tries was followed by our buffet of 3 tries, and Datchworth finished it with a further barrage of 3 tries.

There was not much left in the tank of the tanks, and no route back for the Termites. This journey had come to an end.

Good luck to Datchworth in their final and to Tom Nesbitt following his dislocated shoulder.

Termites: J Kimsey, J Hollis, G Van Der Ryst, J Heltsley, C Scully, O Gawthorne (c), A Church, N Lacey; O Giddings, A Bailey, M Flaherty, C Smith, D Holmes, J Burton, G Donovan

Terlites: S Stringer, S Clarke, M Price, M Ellis, E Legeren,

Tries: Burton, Hollis, Giddings

Content creators: James Groves, Jim Stringer