Double Disappointment!

This year's Herts 7s was hosted by Tring Rugby club on what is traditionally a hot early summer day. Traditions are there to be broken, I suppose, as the day was mostly cloudy with occasional rather heavy downpours. No good for the suntans but much better for playing rugby in! Nevertheless the ground was quite hard and rather sandy so a number of bumps, bruises and grazes ensued.

The Letchworth Saracens U18s were drawn in a group with Aylestone St. James, Herts Baa-Baas and Rochford Hundreds. Given that Rochford had recently beaten Letchworth Saracens quite comprehensively in the 15 a side version of the game, this was clearly not going to be an easy group! The first game was against Aylestone St. James and Letchworth Saracens got off to a good start with a 20-0 victory.

Second up was the Rochford side who were, as expected, a force to be reckoned with. Letchworth Saracens put up a very strong game and defended magnificently against this high quality opposition but could not deny the Essex girls a well deserved victory by 0-20. Regrettably, an injury to Claire saw her sidelined for the rest of the day.

The final group game against Hertfordshire Baa-Baas was a bit of a surprise as part of the opposition appears to comprise of players who had been playing for Welwyn earlier (and indeed played for then later on as well)! As football commentators are often heard to say, this was a game of two halves : the first half belonged to the Baa-Baas and the second half saw a resurgent Letchworth Saracens begin to take back control. It was a really good response but the four try advantage that Herts Baa-Baas took into the second half was just too big to overhaul and the game ended 10-20.

And so, at the end of the group matches, Letchworth Saracens found themselves in 3rd place and heading into a Bowl semi-final against Thomas Beckett. This was a game in which Letchworth Saracens took an early lead through Jess and never looked back, running in 5 tries to take the game 29-0.

The Bowl final against Paviors was a very keenly contested, evenly balanced, rainy affair which was still scoreless at halftime. Early in the second half, Letchworth Saracens took the lead with a converted try but were then put under strong pressure by a commited Paviors side that was clearly not going to give up easily. Letchworth Saracens put up a resolute defence but, with just a couple of minutes to go, Paviors determination paid off and they crossed the line to close the score to 7-5. Then, in the final minute, Paviors scored again to take the Bowl by 7-12 and make it a very disappointing finish for Letchworth Saracens.

Results :

Letchworth Saracens 20 v. 0 Aylestone St. James

Letchworth Saracens 0 v. 20 Rochford Hundreds

Letchworth Saracens 10 v. 20 Hertfordshire Baa-Baas

Letchworth Saracens 29 v. 0 Thomas Beckett

Letchworth Saracens 7 v. 12 Paviors

Scorers :

Tries : Jess (3), Nikki (3), Claire (2), Alice (2), Megan, Natalie

Conversions : Nikki (3)

Photographs of the Herts 7s by TSI Photography can be found at http://www.tsiphotography.co.uk/event/Tring_Rugby.html

The "Wonky's Words" Letchworth Saracens U15s report will follow shortly.