Cheshunt 2nd XV were handed a tought friendly against Bishops Stortford 3rd XV after Barnet Elizabethans called of the league fixture at short notice. Saturday’s line up saw a few welcome changes with James Linsell, Jack Jaggs and Tom Claridge coming back into the 2nd team setup after being unavailable in previous weeks and the debut of coach Bobby Brown.
In traditional Cheshunt fashion the game started slowly and after some scrappy play Stortford took advantage off of a loose lineout ball and spun the ball wide to run in a try, which was duly converted to leave the score at 0-7. Cheshunt soon sparked into life and Heinzy managed to break 5 tackles and produce a gain of over half a pitch. Reece Shoobridge quickly picked up for a chip through which fooled the opposition and resulted in a penalty 5 metres from the Stortford line where Tony Short smashed over to bring Cheshunt back into the game 5-7.
The next spell of play saw the Stortford 10 controlling the game with some clever kick and runs until the Cheshunt forwards put in some excellent performances and started to dominate a spell of rucks and mauls down the pitch before letting the ball go blind for Tom Claridge to masterfully setup Heinzy to get a well deserved try in the right hand corner. Reece Shoobridge missed the conversion after a sudden gust of wind took the ball wide of the posts. The forwards then carried on their strong work by taking a rolling maul halfway down the pitch. Jason Batten took the ball off of the back of the maul and powered his way through two tackles before setting up the ball for Hodgo to pick up and drive on and then pop the ball up to a gazelle like James Linsell to score a quality forwards try, which was duly converted to leave the score at 17-7 to Cheshunt. Stortford scored a breakway try to just before half-time to bring the score the 17-14.
The second half started off with some ‘Champagne Rugby’ from Jake Phillips as he danced his way through half the Stortford team before sending th ball wide to eventually reach Scott Cummines who was tackled short of the line. Soon after this 2nd Team Coach Bobby Brown was brought on for Jack Jaggs and brought a classic touch to the game, but this was mainly due to his hotpant like shorts he was wearing.
The forwards showed some intelligent play and created the chance for Hodgo to pickup and power his way over the line and allow Shoobridge to step up and make the score 24-14. Ben Hounslow soon replaced the impressive James Linsell. However, ben had an ‘interesting performance in his first two mintues on the pitch as he managed to pass straight to the opposition off of a penalty and a minute later calls of ‘red ben’ were heard from the sideline as he questioned one of the Stortford players motives for getting involved in a conversation with him. Coach Bobby Brown showed some impressive running whenever he was presented with the ball and after breaking through the Stortford line he was presented with a 1 on 1 with their full back. Rather than sidestep him or try to power through him Bobby amazed the sidelines when he launched himself headfirst at the players stomach with accuracy that would be befitting of a predator missile. Upon checking if Bobby was alright we were soon told ” Yeah I’m fine I was trying to take him out, you have to take the oppo out”.
In the dying minutes a Stortford Player was sinbinned and took out his anger on a flag, unfortunately the flag was a bendy one and fought back. From the resulting penalty Cheshunt soon ‘boshed’ their way through the Stortford defence before Vice-Captain Gareth Lewis powered his way over to score, Reece Shoobridge converted to make the score 31-14. The score could have been greater had Charlie Porter not played hot potato with the ball and threw it forward to Scott Cummines, who had a clear path to the try line.
All in all it was another impressive performance from Cheshunt 2nd XV with the whole team stepping up a level for the win. James Linsell had an excellent game with the ball in hand. Ross Chamberlain showed great power with his runs and his lineout throwing was immaculate. Reece Shoobridge and Tom Claridge pulled the strings in the half back area with great distribution and clever play. Scott Cummines carried on ihs strong tackling form and ‘bosh’ runs. However, man of the match went to Heinzy for not only gaining about 50 yards each time he got the ball by being a rock in defence as well. Next week the wrecking machine known as Cheshunt 2nd XV will be in Welywn to takeover another teams homeground.
