Rugby icon and former British Lions captain Willie John McBride MBE is the guest of honour at Letchworth s end of season presentation night. All eyes will be on their Baldock Road clubhouse next Friday (May 5) when the legendary Irish forward is the after

Rugby icon and former British Lions captain Willie John McBride MBE is the guest of honour at Letchworth's end of season presentation night.

All eyes will be on their Baldock Road clubhouse next Friday (May 5) when the legendary Irish forward is the after-dinner speaker.

Although officially the club dinner, all rugby-minded people are welcome with tickets still available from Chris Lunnon on 01462 896289.

Depleted Letchworth, containing many stars of the second XV, went down 38-17 at relegated Hadleigh who were out to prove a point.

It was an entertaining encounter where fisticuffs occasionally broke out.

Coach Bob Crooks had positives from performances from youngsters such as Robin French, James Alford and man of the match Jimmy Tirrell.

And the oldest playing member of the club, Mark Hett, did not disappoint when he came on in the last quarter.

Hadleigh were the livelier side in the first 10 minutes as Letchworth gifted them a soft try after a mix-up.

Shortly after, a good passing move led to a searing break by their number 10 who passed to his centre who scored under the posts for a seven pointer.

This stung Letchworth into action. After pressure on the 22, full-back Steve Harpur drove in to form a ruck. Tirrell sent the ball out through the hands of Dan South to Andy Atkinson who carved through three men to score.

Then Tirrell, from his own 22, scored a brilliant individual try as he danced through the home side's defence.

He left mayhem in his wake as the full-back and wing collided in trying to tackle him for a 75-yard try converted by Atkinson.

Hadleigh scored from a lineout against the run of play before Tirrell again worked the ball to French who fed Atkinson who again went over in the corner with two players clinging to him for an unconverted score to tie matters at 17-17 by half time.

Letchworth dominated for the first 10 minutes of the new half but shunned several kickable penalties in their quest to add to their first-half tally. From one such attempt Hadleigh intercepted the ball in their own 22 and their speedy Fijian centre scored a crucial try.

This pepped up the home side who added two more scores to kill off the visitors' challenge.

Letchworth heads never dropped and they had the comfort of knowing that they finished fifth in the league and the visitors would be playing a division below them next season.