Hackney RFC: 48    

 

Hackney RFC’s push for the Herts Middlesex League 3 championship continued with a win against struggling Southgate. The South-Herts side had lost heavily to the Griffins earlier in the campaign and to their credit they have continued to play all their matches with the grit and determination that is likely to see them through their troubled season.

 

Springfield has become a fortress for Hackney RFC this season and they are unbeaten at home all season; you have to go back to February 2007 since the last time Hackney lost a league game at home. The Griffins were forced into making several changes from the team that comprehensively beat Borehamwood last time, which meant several players playing out of position.

 

Hackney started brightly and scored two tries early on. The forward pack dominated their opposition and the London side exploited this to secure their line out ball and drive over the line, Adam Brace and Ollie Hart with the tries. Unfortunately Hackney made the same mistakes that they made against Pinner last month with the team believing that they could beat two or three players on their own when passing to a player in space would have been the better option. This resulted in chances to increase the score being wasted. Southgate showed great heart in coming back at Hackney but they did not really test the meanest defence in the league. Two further tries were scored in the first half, the pick of which was finished off by James Davis.

 

The game was not one for the purists and Hackney were not able to play the brand of free flowing rugby they wanted to. Southgate continued to frustrate the Griffins who struggled to clear their lines. However, three more tries came eventually that meant Hackney stay top of the league. Centre James Wilson scored when he shrugged off two tackles before stepping inside the full back to score under the posts. Davis (J) got his second try using his awesome pace to leave the Southgate defence trailing in his wake. Having bagged two tries, Davis was unfortunate not to grab a hat trick but the referee spotted a forward pass from James Hardwick.

 

Skipper Matt Clemens-Lary said after the game “It was an error strewn performance but at the end of the day we still won comfortably. Fair play to Southgate who showed great spirit and attitude throughout the game.”

 

Hackney Griffins: A Brace, M Smith, M Clemens-Lary, J Young, O Hart, A Hall, C Davis, M Whitlock, C Callanan, P Grieves, J Hardwick, S Collins, J Wilson, T Wright, J Davies.

Reserves: Griffin, Fanning