Hitchin 78-7 Enfield Ignatians
The Hedgehogs hosted Enfield Ignatians under the floodlights on Thursday evening, the fixture moved from Saturday to suit availability of the opposition.
Hitchin started fast with a try from an attacking scrum. With the ball worked through the hands and Winger Elliot Gibson poised to touch down on the right edge, a high tackle resulted in the award of a penalty try.
Hitchin conceded a high tackle penalty of their own, but Ignatians missed the shot at goal from 30 metres out.
After a terrific carry through contact from Fly Half Ben Wiggins, the ball was recycled to Centre Simon Taylor, who span out of the tackle to cross the line for Hitchin's second try.
Ignatians failed to field a chip kick from Captain James Bolter, and Winger Phill Ryan was first to react, fending off a would be tackler to dive over in the corner.
Two minutes later Ryan secured the bonus point try, receiving the ball 30 metres out and fending off the covering tackle to touch down on the left edge.
Try number five came courtesy of a flat pass from Ben Wiggins to Centre Jaden Elley-Murphy. With Gibson keeping the defence honest on the inside, Elley-Murphy dummied the pass and ran through a defensive gap to score under the sticks.
Enfield pressure followed but Hitchin proved their defensive credentials, Second Row Jon Welsford diving on a loose ball and Scrum Half Dan Wiggins executing a delicious box kick over the halfway line.
From the lineout Taylor was tackled by the last man, but offloaded to Elley-Murphy to score his second. The same pair combined for the seventh try, Taylor reacting first to a dropped Enfield pass before offloading to Elley-Murphy in support, who sidestepped the Enfield Winger to secure his first half hat-trick.
The only negative note of the first half came on the final play, when Enfield punted to an exposed Hitchin backfield, and the Enfield Winger collected the loose ball to score under the posts. Halftime score Hitchin 43-7 Enfield Ignatians.
Elley-Murphy hit a flat line at pace and, despite being hauled down 10 metres out, a ruck infringement preventing quick ball resulted in a 10 minutes sinbin for the Enfield Winger.
Playing against 14 men, Hitchin threatened to run riot. The Hedgehogs won a penalty from a 5 metre scrum, and Bolter quick tapped and powered over. Full Back Harry Chater narrowly failed to collect his own kick for what would have been a magnificent individual effort, but Bolter picked up the ball from the ruck to score his second.
Enfield were back up to a full complement, but the one-way traffic continued. Hitchin won the contest for possession of an Enfield exit kick and good hands worked the ball from left to right for Winger Greg Ranson to round the opposition and score Hitchin's tenth try.
As the match entered the final quarter Elley-Murphy again found space and, one-on-one with the full back, passed to Dan Wiggins, who passed to Chater to score under the sticks.
Much to Enfield's credit, despite being depleted by injuries, they stemmed the flow and forced Hitchin errors, limiting the hosts to a final try from Welsford.
A Hollywood ending was denied, as Frazer McGown was dubiously adjudged to have touched down Ben Wiggins' crossfield kick over the dead ball line on the last play. Final score Hitchin 78-7 Enfield Ignatians.
Hitchin climb to 4th place in Counties 1 Herts/Middlesex. Next week Hitchin 1XV travel to local rivals Welwyn, looking to repeat last season's victory, while the 2XV visit Leighton Buzzard in a friendly fixture.
Thomas Brown, Gary Ayres, Jonny Robertson, Jonathan Welsford, Samuel Underwood, James Bolter, Ruiri Shanahan, Frazer McGown, Daniel Wiggins, Benjamin Wiggins, Phillip Ryan, Simon Taylor, Jaden Elley-Murphy, Elliot Gibson, Harry Chater
Subs Ewan Rawlings, Louix West, Greg Ranson, Gavin McLeod, Jack Galer, Charles Wood-Jones
Scores T: Jaden Elley-Murphy (3), James Bolter (2), Phillip Ryan (2), Greg Ranson (1), Jonathan Welsford (1), Harry Chater (1), Simon Taylor (1)
C: Benjamin Wiggins (8)
The league: Counties 1 Herts/Middx