Herts/Middlesex 1 05/12/2015

A tremendous second half performance gave Cheshunt a bonus point victory, that keeps them in

third spot and continues to add pressure on second placed London Welsh, whom they now trail by

just four points.

On a blustery afternoon Cheshunt had the elements in their favour in the first period, C’s were soon

into the Bank half and a penalty from Johnno Wicks after 4 minutes opened their account. He

doubled the lead 4 minutes later with another well struck penalty and the home side forwards were

clearly on top at the set piece and the breakdown, earning favourable decisions from the ref.

The visitors spent some time in and around the Cheshunt 22, but were unable to create anything

threatening, when Cheshunt had the ball, Bank were quick to spoil and slow the ball down,

conceding more penalties, which gave the home side the chance to get back down field.

A re-shuffled front row saw Greg Morris move in the middle of Ollie Martines and Dave Angell, with

the help of second rows Marvin Brown and Alex Clark, it continued to shove the bigger Bank pack

around, the lineouts were working well too, Aydan Duligall and Connor Pearce securing their own

ball and occasionally snaffling the Bank throw and number 8 Joel Bailey was always on hand to take

the ball into the heart of the Bank defence to set up another attack.

Cheshunt thought they may have wasted an opportunity on the half hour mark, following a lineout

close to the Bank line a series of mauls couldn’t get over and the ball was turned over under the

Bank posts, just 5 yards from the line. Again the Cheshunt pack shoved their opposition back and a

loose pass was seized upon by poacher Duligall who produced another try out of nothing, Wicks

added the extras to extend the advantage to 13-0.

Despite controlling possession and territory C’s were unable to add to their lead before the break

and expected to have a difficult time in the second half against the wind.

Cheshunt started to play their best rugby of the game and the first assault deep into the Bank half

was led by Duligall and Mike Henderson, although the visitors managed to quell that attack, the

deep kick down field was fielded by Dan Saunders. His counter attack brought play back to halfway

and after a couple of phases, Cheshunt had created an overlap, Wicks drew the last of the cover and

unleashed David Anthony down the right wing, the quick winger easily glided past the floundering

defenders and touched down to put C’s further ahead at 18-0.

A brace of tries for left winger Dave Lever soon followed, both created by Bobby Bolton. Bolton

made the first break on halfway, he danced through midfield and as the cover came across on the

22, his flat pass found Lever on the perfect angle, he seared through the remaining gap and in under

the posts for another easy conversion from Wicks.

Cheshunt were now determined to get the bonus point try and despite the conditions, played some

entertaining rugby. Clark was next to threaten, but the support was not on hand to offload, but it

wasn’t long before Lever was over for his second, Bolton made some space in midfield, his pass left

Lever a little more to do this time, but he drove through his man and dived over in the corner.

Cheshunt completed the scoring with a push over try from 15 metres out, Bailey touching down

under the posts, so Wicks could add more extras.

Cheshunt will face a sterner test this Saturday when they travel to Hillingdon Abbotts, the league’s

second highest points scorers who are just 5 points behind the Green and Whites.