Watford 1sts 17 ? 8 Tring 3rds

Watford 1sts took to the hallowed ground at Radlett Road hoping to secure their second win of the season following their 13-6 victory away at Pegasus Palmerians in the Powergen Vase the week before.

A somewhat changed side was fielded for our first home game of the season against Tring 3rds, however expectations were high and the team and our supporters were looking forward to a good, hard game which is always the case when playing Tring.

Watford started brightly with some solid exchanges between the opposing packs and intelligent running from the Watford backs put the Tring defence under earlier pressure.  Due to some suspect hands and some bad luck on Watford’s part, Tring weathered the storm and started to pile on the pressure.  Watford’s defensive line stood strong and looked impressive against Tring’s consistent attacks. 

It was against the run of play mid way through the first half that the clean-shaven Peter Jenkins who had been threatening with his penetrative running broke away leaving the Tring defence for dead.  A might hand-off to the full back later and Watford has secured their first home points of the season, with the conversion being missed by Maney.  Watford 5 – Tring 0.

Tring lifted their game and piled on further pressure, however once more Watford stood strong.  It was just before half time Tring got on the scoreboard following a penalty for an offside.  Half time score Watford 5 – Tring 3.

Tring came out for the 2^nd half revitalised looking to continue where they had left off before the break.  They caught Watford napping and went over for their first try of the game with the conversion being missed.  Watford 5 – Tring 8.

Skipper Pete Nelson rallied the Watford troops with promised of pain and punishment in training if they didn’t get it together (the actual speech was slightly less polite!) and Watford immediately stepped it up and started to make progress deep into the Tring half.

Tring however were in no mood to surrender their lead and they defended resiliently against the Watford attack.  Jenkins, Traxon, Bartram and new addition to the backs Bridge all came close to crossing, but that final pass continued to elude Watford and it looked like it might not be Watford’s day.

However, with 15 minutes to left in the 2^nd half the Watford forwards secured good ball just inside the Tring half and the ball was span out to the waiting backs.  The ball worked its way down the line finally reaching Traxon who burst over for Watford’s second try of the match with Maney converting a difficult kick.  Watford 12 – Tring 8.

Tring immediately hit back desperate to get back into the game, Watford however had other ideas sensing that Tring were tiring and once again good work from both forward and backs resulted in Danny Bartram scoring a quick try to push Watford further into the lead, with the conversion being missed.  Watford 17 – Tring 8.

Watford continued to threaten in the final minutes of the game with Tring valiantly trying to keep them at bay.  No further scores were made giving Watford their first home and second successive win of the season.  Skipper Peter Nelson was pleased with the team’s performance saying “Although we started the first half very slowly and made lots of unforced errors, we stuck at our task and showed glimpses of our potential in a much improved second half.”

Watford are now firmly focused on their 2^nd round Powergen Vase tie against May and Baker on 17^th September.  It’s a home fixture so any support would be much appreciated!

Watford Team
1 - Trevor Hickey

2 - James Sedgley

3  -Peter Nelson

4 - Andre Paul

5 - Rob Moore

6 - David Mitchell

7 - Craig Wadey

8 - Mick Mealing

 9 - Simon Maney

10 - Peter Jenkins

11 - Danny Bartram

12 - Peter Cox

13 - Adam Johnson

14 - Sven Ossowski

15 - Jamie Traxton

Subs (All used)

Gary Bridge

Jon Stevens

James Rose