Back in the dim distant past of tag rugby, you could say it was a lot like herding cats. Things have changed somewhat since then, we are organised, very competitive, aggressive and in all the matches I have witnessed so far this season, our fitness has shone through. The collective noun for cats, feral ones anyway, is a devastation. The boys are pretty feral, so I think that fits pretty well.

As one of the more senior members of the Hertford under 13 parent fraternity, I’m not likely to get the details right and certainly can’t list the try scorers, as I can barely remember what I had for breakfast. It was this reporter’s first trip to Ampthill despite this being my 11th year of mini/youth rugby and here’s what I recall :-

Robbie (sporting an impressive Mo) got his team organised and fired up and we started playing down the considerable slope in the first half. We kicked off and immediately began to exert some pressure. We were aggressive at the breakdown our forwards doing their job and won a turnover, went through some phases and then put the ball through the hands of the backs and it wasn’t long before we scored. For the rest of the period we spent much of the time in Ampthill’s half. When we had the ball we made good yards constantly getting past the gain line and when we didn’t we were solid in the tackle and held an organised defensive line.
Second half Ampthill had the slope and they began to exert some pressure and scored some good tries of their own. Although we lost a bit of our defensive cohesion in this half, we still gave them plenty of problems in attack. So although the opposition fought back well, there didn’t feel like a point where they would get back into the game. We always held them at arms length. When the boys put it together it’s great to see. The forwards pulling the defenders into contact and then we spread it out wide to the backs. So all in all a good mornings work and a deserved win.

Each player played his part :-
Freddie Abbott – physical and strong, got a try for his troubles too for the forward’s union.
Josh Bailey – did all his work well. Solid performance especially when defending.
Harry Cannon – a constant nuisance on the wing for the opposition with his strong runs.
Oli Chapple – some great breaks out of defence and good decision making with ball in hand.
Kyle Corcoran-Snowden – some good strong runs and tackles, does a lot of the dirty work.
Tommy Day –made a real nuisance of himself at the breakdown and contributed well to our strong scrum.
Ted Evans – organised the backs well and made good yards when he got the ball.
Oliver Hurd – very strong running, lots of bodies in his wake on the floor when he got the ball, it was like Armageddon. (I have trouble spelling Armageddon. it doesn't matter though, it's not like it’s the end of the world)
Finley Klust-Nelson – quick and bright and some good kicks over the advancing defence.
Freddie Morris – played well on the wing using the line as an extra defender. Also don't think there’s a better kick off taker in under 13s.
Connor Murphy – squirreled away at the back of the ruck and scrum and delivered good quick ball.
Isaac Page – drew defenders into the tackle to make some good offloads despite a wrist injury in the first half.
Joseph Saunders – great running into contact, usually took at least 2 or 3 players to bring him down.
Oli Shanley – made some good yards and bravely came back in the second half after getting the wind knocked out of his sails when he fell on the ball.
Ben Templeton-Knight – tackle machine. I sometimes feel he doesn't like the ball in his hands and would like to give it back to the opposition just so he can tackle them again.
Jason Tsangari – jinking runs caused Ampthill confusion. Solid defence too.
Woody Watling – good stuff from Woody and shows a deft touch with some of his offloads.

Post match : Nice old school clubhouse. Isaac wasn’t impressed with the food on offer. Meagre tomato sauce and hard pasta, but he did find the Monster Munch to his liking. Dad felt the Guinness was of a fine standard.

That’s me signing off from this match report as I’m off for a curry. Funnily enough I’m learning the Indian language. Sari seems to be the hardest word. I’ll get my coat.