Sat 5 Feb 2022
There was a somewhat disaffected air in the visitors dressing room after this local derby in that the score indicated a close encounter. It wasn’t. Letchworth outscored their nearest rivals by five tries to one and though young fly half Hem Johal left his kicking boots behind he was more often than not the catalyst in getting his line moving, enabling four of those five scores to come from the two wingers Odita, with a hat trick, and the ever dependable Gurure with one . Other points of comfort were the performances of stand in prop James Buchanan who had a superb eighty minutes at the coal face and the debut of young colt Josh Stratton, who came on after sixty minutes, who had several runs and despite his light stature made a devastating tackle on an opponent nearly twice his size. Certainly a name for the future.
Given the absolute dominance of the visitors in the set piece it was somewhat surprising that Datchworth only picked up two yellow cards over the course of the match, but then there were quite a few surprising decisions from the RAF referee including a string of penalties at the end against Letchworth and a yellow card for Scott Quarmby for a seemingly innocuous tackle that led to Datchworth scoring at the death to redeem the differential. It must be said that the home side’s defence was superb, keeping out the visitors for long periods and disrupting the flow of their performance.
There was a strong breeze blowing to Datchworth’s advantage in the first half and a great break by their outside half led to a penalty to give them an early lead. However Letchworth were soon on the attack with Odita causing problems with ball in hand. Martin Day’s superb hand off broke the defence and from the recycle Arun Johal went over after twelve minutes. With Letchworth exerting real dominance at scrum time it was not surprising that the home number six was sent to the naughty step for ten minutes. From this a great forward shove saw Howman put Odita away for his first try under the sticks. The other conversions were difficult but Hem Johal will have learnt to take his conversions a bit further away when in front of the posts, as this attempt was easily charged down. Datchworth secured another penalty but shortly afterwards a great burst from Hughes saw Arun Johal on hand to feed Odita for his second which made it 6/15 at half time.
The travelling support thought that Letchworth would really motor on after the interval but this was not the case due to some great resistance from Datchworth. A well worked pattern up the field saw Tommy Wilcock nearly plunging over but again Odita was at the end of the move for his hat trick. A few minutes later and it was Gurure weaving through to score and make matters 6/25.
This however was when Letchworth stalled and great credit is due to the persistence of the Villagers who refused to lie down. Letchworth clearly lost the ear of the referee in the last quarter when some back chat meant a scoring penalty chance was reversed and Legends leaked another six and a yellow for Quarmby for a no arms tackle before Datchworth scored with the last play of the game. To rub salt in their reliable kicker converted to make it three out of three.
Still it was another bonus point win on the road but now all the focus will be on leaders HAC who visit Legends Lane next week hard on the heels of an 85/5 drubbing of Grasshoppers. Like Datchworth this week Letchworth will need to gird their loins (whatever that means!) and steel their resolve to meet the impressive outfit they will host next week.
A very important factor will be the crowd and all supporters are urged to come up and cheer on the team in what should be their toughest game yet. There is a lunch beforehand and all diners should contact Brian Burke on 07768 274037 to book their place.
Team from 1:
Robinson
Hughes
Buchanan
Wilcock
Peasnell
Day
Fitts (c)
Allison
Howman
Johal H
Gurure
Campbell
Titherington
Gurure
Johal A
Turner
Quarmby
Stratton
Report by Brian Burke
