Sat 4 Dec 2021
The cold and windy heath with its lack of any welcoming facilities has often proved a banana skin for the visitors and it seemed that after ten minutes with the home side leading 7/0 and Luke Mongston in the naughty bin this could be the case. Fast forward an hour and a half with Mongston scoring a hat trick as the visitors ran in seven tries against their unfortunate hosts and a delighted Baz Basra pronounced the whole team - including substitutes Page, Scott and Rae - as men of the match. Indeed this was the case as nearly all the scores came from some great sustained play by both forwards and backs with some stunning interplay at times.
In the early stages Hampstead had the best of it and led with a well worked score under the posts. However despite playing against a strong wind Letchworth forced their way into the game with some great phases. Mongston returned to the pitch just in time as Joe Allison won great lineout ball and the burly number eight went over. Hem Johal was narrowly wide with the kick. Minutes later some great team work saw the ball moved between Arun Johal and Gibbs for Tattenda Gurure to go over and Legends took a lead they never lost.
Another break by Gurure saw the ball worked quickly to the other side and Luke Campbell just fell short of the line. However the veteran sniper Harvey Howman was on hand to dive over and with Hem Johal adding the points Letchworth were pulling away. On the stroke of half time Letchworth were nearly over again but determined defence kept them out.
The travelling faithful did not have long to wait for the bonus point try in the second forty. Both prop Tate and full back Gibbs nearly crossed the whitewash after great team play before Joe Allison strolled over and Johal added the two with a great kick. Hampstead never gave up and enjoyed a spell of pressure before another long range move involving Scott, Arun Johal, Gurure and Page saw Allison waltzing over for his second. A further kick from Hem Johal and Legends were over the hill and it was Johal who minutes later won a great turnover for his brother Arun to burst through and fed Mongston who thundered over under the posts. It was really a question as to who would get their hat trick first ... Joe Allison came oh so close as his mazy run ended just metres short but it was the effervescent Mongston who seized the ball and dived over to claim his third with Johal taking the score to 45/7.
It is to Hampstead’s credit that they battled to the end and were rewarded with a well taken try in the corner with the referee blowing his loudest shriek of the whistle for this one! However this was to no avail and there is no doubt that this was one of Letchworth’s best all round performances this season, and without several big boys up front too. Special mention to Tommy Wilcock and Dave Hatch in the engine room and great leadership from Fitts in the backrow. Also young Hugo Lennie making his starting debut on the wing.
Letchworth will be hopeful for another good win at home next week to Enfield. Kick off will be at 2 o’clock at Legends Lane following a sumptuous Christmas dinner from resident chef Big Les Wilsher.
Team from 1:
Robinson
Hughes
Tate
Wilcock
Hatch
Allison
Fitts (c)
Mongston
Howman
Johal H
Gurure
Campbell
Johal A
Lennie
Gibbs
Page
Rae
Scott
