Old Albanians 5th XV 8 v 35 Watford 2nd XV

Man of the Match: Georgio Pitsialis.

Straight from the kick off both teams went full throttle. Old Albanians managing to pin Watford back for the first 10, sterling defensive work ensuring that no points were put on Watford. The first scoring attempt was an OA penalty, which fortunately skewed wide of the posts. The replying clearance kick hammered down the touchline for a Watford lineout within OAs 22m. Securing ball from the lineout, Watford were awarded a penalty for OA offside. Electing to take the points, the penalty conversion missed, with OAs clearing. This resulted in a lineout, with a well executed move from veteran no. 8 Gary Bridge surging down the touchline to touch down. Mcgee made the kick from a challenging position to give Watford the lead that they had been playing for.

Watford did not take their foot off the gas, straight back into the attack from the kick off. Moving through numerous phases of play, Watford secured ball in rucks, sucking in the Albanian defence. Seeing the overlap develop, the ball was spread wide. This put through winger Simon Tucker, who secured the second try, with Mcgee dutifully adding the extras.

The final score of the 1st half came from a surprise kick from centre Andy Lee, leading to a headlong chase for the ball. A lucky bounce put the OA fullback under pressure leading to him fumbling and slicing his clearance. This allowed full back Jacob Harris to seize upon the opportunity and dive over the line. This lead to a half time score of Watford 21- 0 Old Albanians

The second half was closely contested, with both teams managing to score. Albanians proving that the result was still in contention, scoring a penalty and running in a try of their own.

Watford were not to allow them back into the game though, with a further score coming from TJ Bernarius, once again the result of good support running and offloading.

Watford were to experience a severely tough period in the later stages of the second half, when 2 players were sin binned for not releasing when tackled. This led to a period of OA dominance, exploiting the extra 2 men well. However, Pitsialis managed to run round a number of opposition to score the final try of the game.

This was to be a great day for the supporters and 3rd time lucky for Watford’s 2nd team who haven’t won a cup in many years. With the effort put in by every member of the club this season, a cup win was well deserved.

Line up:

Pulman (Wilson 40), Pitsialis, Sedgely, Stevens (Godfrey 40), Hill, Connolly, Bernarius, Bridge, Botha, Mcgee, Menzies, Lee, Braun, Tucker, Harris (Portway 50).