Herts/Middlesex 1 15/11/2014

Cheshunt turned in their best performance on the road of the season and comfortably outplayed the Bank of England at Roehampton, earning an important bonus point win.
The visitors were soon on the board, disrupting the Bank scrum, loose ball was seized on by Dave Lever, who ran in from 40 yards out, the simple conversion from Tom McGowan gave Cheshunt a 0-7 lead after just 4 minutes.

The Green and Whites were quickly back in the Bank half, the magnificent back row of Aydan Duligall, Josh Willcocks and Connor Pearce turned Bank ball over, as they consistently did all afternoon, Scott Cummines flew down the right wing and took play deep into the 22. Although the move broke down, C’s won a penalty at the scrum, but instead of opting for another set piece, an area in which they were obviously enjoying supremacy, they opted for a quick tap and the ball was spilt. The home side fly hacked down field and narrowly missed out on winning the race to the line for a crucial score, from the 22 re-start, Duligall was guilty of taking the man out in the air and the Banks kicker narrowed the gap to 3-7.

Although the Cheshunt forwards were dominating, when the Bank backs had the ball in broken play, they looked dangerous with a couple of exciting runners and when Omid Amani was harshly sent to the bin, for what the referee deemed to be a dangerous tackle, the Cheshunt defence expected to be tested. They were further impeded when Lewis Daymon joined Amani on the naughty step, when he was given a ten minute rest after encouraging one of the Bank forwards to release the ball on the floor.
Despite the numerical disadvantage, Cheshunt continued to attack and a clever chip ahead from McGowan was caught just outside the Cheshunt 22 by Willcocks, supported by Pearce they made good ground but ultimately ran out of numbers and the bank cleared. Determined to impose themselves on the diminished visitors, the Bank finally reduced the lead, after missing a long range penalty they were given an easier chance in front and the lead was down to one point after 33 minutes. Finally Cheshunt were rewarded for some pressure, as they spent the remainder of the first half camped in the Bank 22, several chances were wasted before the ball found its way to Lever, despite a poor pass, he was able to spin through a tackle and force his way over to stretch to 6-12 at the break.

The Bank started the second half well and Cheshunt had to withstand 8 minutes of continued pressure, until from a scrum, Pearce broke up field, Willcocks offered support and C’s quickly re-cycled, instead of feeding the ball along the line and using the overlap, the ball was taken back into contact and turned over. Poor decision making, coupled with some inconsistent refereeing led to a frustrating 20 minutes for the visitors, camped in the Bank 22, they were unable to add to their total, until Cummines intercepted 25 yards out, he ran in and with the extras Cheshunt were comfortable at 6-19.
Cheshunt completely dominated the last 10 minutes, two tries were disallowed by the referee and attacking opportunities were lost when C’s were halted with some unusual interpretations of the rule book, but they secured the bonus point when Andy Mason drove over following a successful catch and drive from a line out 10 metres out. Captain Tom Claridge completed the scoring when he wriggled over from short range and Cheshunt were pleased to have won a game which moves them back up into the top half of the table.

Next week at Rosedale, Cheshunt entertain unbeaten London Welsh.

Martines, Phillips, Short, Donnelly, Hounslow, Willcocks, Duligall, Pearce, Daymon, McGowan, Lever, Claridge, Amani, Cummines, Valentine. Replacements – Bagley, Mason, Gutteridge.