Hertford under-16s 5 Datchworth under-16s 33 DATCHWORTH started strongly and were seven points up in the first five minutes after a strong burst through the Hertford back line from Tom Blackwell, a try which was converted by George Hopkins. The away

Hertford under-16s 5

Datchworth under-16s 33

DATCHWORTH started strongly and were seven points up in the first five minutes after a strong burst through the Hertford back line from Tom Blackwell, a try which was converted by George Hopkins.

The away team continued to press the Hertford defence for the next 15 minutes and rucked Hertford around the park.

On the 25 minutes mark Jordan Brewer took the ball down the right and left his opposition fullback for dead to make it 12-0, with Hopkins converting for the extra two points.

From the kick off Iffey Rahman, the Datchworth eight, pushed aside four Hertford players and made hard ground into the Hertford 22 to set up the next ruck where Datchworth got into the five metre line before Nick Gudgin gathered the ball and dived over for the third try of the half, with Blackwell adding the conversion.

Half-time came and Datchworth looked good at 21-0, but Hopkins had to leave the field with a serious eye injury.

In the second half Hertford were a different team. They brought on a few first team players to balance things up and this seemed to lift the other Hertford players.

They soon attacked down the right and some sloppy defending from Datchworth let them in for the try in the corner, but they spooned the conversion.

The call from the new Datchworth captain Harrison Johnson was to go back and play simple rugby, and his players followed suite.

The Datchworth team started to spoil the Hertford scrum at every opportunity and one of these spoils saw the ball thrown out to the backs and the move was finished off by Blackwell, who converted as well.

The final try was the best of the game; Hertford had a scrum on their own 10 metre line but Datchworth won the ball and their backs blitzed through the Hertford defence.

Adam Sadler drew in his opposite number 13 and offloaded to Jake Miller who took on and beat his winger before offloading the ball as a fullback came close. His pass went to Brewer who left everyone in his wake to score in the corner for an unconverted try.

Datchworth under-15s 19

Fullerians under-15s B 0

At home for their fourth league game of the season, Datchworth's under-15s team faced Fullerians B team coming off the back of a strong win against Tring B.

Datchworth were confident of maintaining their lead at the top of their division, but mindful that their opponents would be out to prove something after their narrow defeat by Harpenden on their last outing.

A number of players on both teams were struggling with coughs and colds and injuries forced Datchworth into positional changes.

The game started evenly with both sides rucking hard and for the first ten minutes the game was played in the centre of the pitch.

Fullerians, playing down the hill in the first half and made several excursions into the Datchworth half, but they were unable to capitalise on their efforts.

The first points of the game, and the only points of the first half, came from a loose ruck on the halfway line.

Jack Exton won the ball for Datchworth and Dom Claytor popped the ball over the top of the Fullerians line into their fullback's arms, but some strong running by Paul Taylor put him under pressure and Datchworth won the ball back at the following ruck.

Joe Vinall, the Datchworth scrum half, got the ball at the back and looking up he saw an opening and took off down the blind side.

He was eventually caught and tackled on the try line, just short of putting the ball over, but Matthieu Light was in support and picked the ball up to dive over for a well worked try.

The second half started in a similar vein to the first, with both sides struggling with the sticky conditions but then Datchworth were back on the scoreboard after a team move.

Winning a ruck on half way, Ian Bugg took it on before passing to captain Matt Clark in the second row. Clark popped the ball out to the Nick Moore who carved through the Fullerians defence with a little dummy.

A burst of speed saw Moore charge for the line with just the fullback to beat. Some great running and support play saw him draw the fullback in and off-load the ball to James Hankin who ran in under the posts.

Chris Greenhill, having just come for Datchworth made his mark on the game by picking up the Fullerian's restart, charging down the wing and scoring. Some good kicking by Joe Vinall saw the score finish at 19-0.