Heughers 3 – Horden 32

TEAM: M.SAUNDERS, R.ANDERSON, S.BUTTERY, D.HOGG, D.LANGLEY, C.BULLOCK, C.DOWDLE, J.FLEET, D.THOMAS, D.FAWCETT, I.GALLAGHER, J.MONTGOMERY, I.MULLER, S.HENDERSON, S.RAILTON

It was all hands to the pump again and with props as rare as rocking horse shite these days, Scotty stepped in again, Handbag volunteered Robbie for hooker and we were lucky to grab Matty Saunders who had allegedly nipped out for batteries for his X-Box controller! Langley and Dowdle came in from the under 17’s and Fleety added a bit of sense to the back row deputising at no8 alongside Buller. Dillon Thomas moved from full back to scrum half and the impressive Scott Henderson retained his spot on the wing.

The Horden pack probably averaged about 3 stone a man heavier but to be fair apart from the scrums and a few rolling mauls the lads got stuck in and competed well. It didn’t take long for Horden to capitalise and they were unlucky after a couple of minutes when a quick ball was shipped to the wing but the ref judged him to be in touch before grounding the ball. I thought the ref had an excellent game and my criticisms from the other week are all but forgotten, especially as we didn’t put our flag on this occasion and it was without doubt a try!

Our joy was short lived and a painful scrum collapsed giving Horden a penalty try after 5 minutes, 0 – 7. The pressure continued and a driving maul sailed over for a second try on 13 minutes, 0 – 12.

Daz gave a bit of hope a couple of minutes later slotting an excellent penalty kick, 3 – 12, and the game settled into a bit of a stalemate with good work from Fleety, Monty and Muller but the strength just wasn’t there to break through. Daz was kicking some good territory at times but Horden finished the half with another drive in the corner for an unconverted try, 3 – 17.

The second half was much the same with a lot of hard work coming to nothing. Horden scored after 3 minutes, kicking a penalty to the corner and driving over, 3 – 22 and another two tries were scored out wide after bouts of forward domination on 55 mins and 68 mins taking the final score to 3 – 32.

Despite some great effort it was unfortunately a case of men against boys but I’m sure they will all take experience from this game and improve. Lads such as Dillon Langley playing in the second row against such formidable opponents didn’t complain once, just got on with it. Also Connor Dowdle made a nuisance of himself all game, hard to believe they are both only 17, great prospects for the future as are the likes of Hoggy, Monty, Buller, Dillon, Muller and Henderson if they push themselves.