RFU Junior Vase – Round one – 04/10/14

Cheshunt strolled into round two of the RFU Junior vase, with victory away at Hendon. Fielding a much changed starting line-up, they controlled all aspects of the match and had the game won by half time. Showing their intent from the whistle, Tom McGowan fielded the deep kick in his 22 and immediately found willing runners, particularly Dean Gardener and Dave Angell and through multiple phases worked up to the Hendon 22.

The home side were able to clear the initial danger after C’s infringed at the first scrum, however when C’s were awarded a penalty on half way, they quickly tapped and ran at the Hendon line, first up tackling from Hendon was good, but they couldn’t cope with wave after wave of Green and White shirts and from close range, McGowan crashed through to score near the posts, Gardener added the conversion to go 0-7 up after 7 minutes. Although Cheshunt were enjoying all the territory, the big Hendon pack did their best to disrupt tidy ball, but, scrum half Jack Gutteridge saw them rush up again at a lineout, he darted through a gap and found Mike Henderson in support, quick ruck ball a metre out was fed to Gardener who touched down and added the conversion.

C’s were back over the line 3 minutes later, the Hendon scrum was beginning to buckle under pressure, in an attempt to get quick ball away from the set piece, a loose pass was spotted by left winger Dave Lever, he intercepted on halfway and trotted to the line unopposed, more extras from Gardener extended the lead to 0-21 after 22 minutes.

The try of the match came on the half an hour mark, Hendon had a rare excursion into the Cheshunt half, but they were guilty of hanging on to the ball at a ruck, just inside the Cheshunt 22, Captain Conner Pearce took a quick tap, the ball was fed through many pairs of hands, including a neat one-two between Ross Boulton and Gardener, along the line the ball found Gutteridge, who sprinted in from 40 yards.

Some poor Hendon tackling allowed Josh Willcocks to attack from the re-start, more quick hands and support from Ben Hounslow and the ever present Gardener, nearly put Lever in, but the pass went astray and Hendon resisted further punishment until the half time break.

The home side had an early opportunity to get on the board in the second half, keeping the ball through several phases in and around the Cheshunt 22, but determined defence from the visitors kept them at bay and when C’s won the ball back thought they were to add to their tally. Scott Cummines broke through the line, Gardener the link to Billy Roberts who was going to run in from half way, however, the referee adjudged the last pass to be forward, a decision hotly contested by the Cheshunt crowd.

Hendon were unable to break down the Cheshunt defence, if they held on to the ball, Cheshunt won it back at scrums, Tony Short, Jordan Wade, Aaron Hussey and Charlie Bagley all ruling the roost in the front row, if they kicked ahead, Dan Saunders at full back was always in the right place to field the ball and return it with interest.

Only 18 minutes remained when, finally the score board was brought back into action, a fine individual try from Cummines as he rampaged through would be tacklers in the middle of the park, several Hendon defenders were brushed aside as he made his way through the defensive line, then sprinted to the try line, another conversion from Gardener took C’s out of sight at 0-33. Cheshunt will be disappointed with the last quarter. They conceded almost straight from the re-start. From a penalty deep inside the C’s 22, most of the Hendon side were involved in a driving maul, just short of the line the re-cycled to the number 8 who crashed over from close range. They soon added to their total, more penalties gave them the chance to throw their big men at the line, eventually again they got over, to reduce the deficit to 12-33. The last ten minutes saw some poor rugby, neither team able to string together phases of play and continuous mistakes led to a stop start finale.
However, Cheshunt will be pleased with a performance that gave an opportunity for some to show their skills to the coaching staff and look forward to next week’s league home game against Haringey Rhinos.

Short, Wade, Hussey, Hounslow, Angell, Willcocks, Henderson, Pearce, Gutteridge, McGowan, Lever, Gardener, Boulton.R, Cummines, Saunders. Replacements – Roberts, Bagley, Boulton. F