Hitchin
had hardly shaken the journey to West London out of their system when they
conceded a penalty on their 10m line which Grasshoppers kicked to the corner. From the ensuing line-out the home team
caught the ball and mauled it over the line for a try. The conversion bounced off the post.
Five
minutes later Hitchin had worked themselves into the Grasshopper's 22 and a
pick up by captain James Bolter was continued by Sean McGinnity who crashed
over for a try from five yards out. Jack
Peachey added the extra points.
A
clean break in the centre of the field and some poor tackling let in
Grasshoppers for another unconverted try.
A few minutes later Grasshoppers worked the ball swiftly along the backs
to outstrip the defence for a third unconverted try.
Although
Hitchin fought back they couldn't get enough continuity to make any dents in
the home side’s defence.
With
Hitchin reduced to 14 men through a yellow card, Grasshoppers scored the final
try of the first half under the posts to ensure a successful conversion and a
bonus point.
Hitchin
started the second half having to defend several attacks, one of which was held
up over the line.
The
pressure told and again a Hitchin player was yellow carded and the resulting penalty
was successfully kicked to make the score 25 7 in favour of the home team.
With
the forwards still going well in the scrums and lineouts Hitchin continued to
battle on to be rewarded in the 36th minute when the ball was picked
up in mid field by Adam Shaw , who passed
to Carwyn Morgan who drew his man before passing to Matt Houlden who outpaced
the covering defence to run in from the 10 metre line to score an unconverted
try.
Next
week Hitchin host Stevenage Town RFC in a local derby
Team Sean McGinnity, Joshua Page, Barry Mellor, Ryan Arbon, Philip Hobbs, Evan Griffiths, Samuel Underwood, James Bolter, Rhys Gregory, Adam Shaw, Matthew Houlden, Harry Cartwright, Jack Peachey, Aiken Verschuur, Richard Sinclair
Subs Brandon Norman, Rob Shaw, Carwyn Morgan
Scores T: Sean McGinnity (1), Matthew Houlden (1)
C: Jack Peachey (1)
Player(s) of Match 1. Evan Griffiths, 2. Jack Peachey, 3. James Bolter
The league: London North West 3