Watford 1st XV 17 vs 21 Pinner & Grammarians

Man of the Match: Martin Lee

Watford missed a golden opportunity to open their account for the season, slipping to a narrow defeat against Pinner & Grammarians. The home team can only blame themselves, having enjoyed huge swathes of territory and possession but once again failing to put points on the board when it mattered.

Watford started brightly, and spent the first 15 minutes camped inside the visitors half. Strong running from the forwards was well backed up by decisive attacking play from the back line, the continual pressure eventually causing Pinner to concede a kickable penalty which was coolly converted by Tom Kiely. Unfortunately this led to a lapse in concentration from the home side, who switched off and allowed Pinner to run in two easy scores. What was especially frustrating was the lack of defensive cohesion in broken play, with the away sides speedy and agile runners carving through near enough unopposed. Unfortunately Pinner’s tries proved to be the highlight of what was an otherwise forgettable half, which was characterised by a continual lack of control from both teams at the scrum.

The half time whistle couldn’t come soon enough, Watford re-grouping and coming out determined to begin the second half as they had the first. Unfortunately this didn’t happen, and quick ball from a lineout led directly to Pinner scoring their third try of the game. The home side finally appeared to wake up, and attacked the opposition with a renewed vigour. Despite showing a much improved attitude, Watford found themselves unable to string together any attack of real note and were constantly guilty of conceding possession, either from throwing poor passes or not arriving at the break down with the numbers necessary to secure the ball. A well worked series of pick and drives from the Watford pack came agonisingly close to a first try, Martin Lee being held up over the line. From the resulting scrum, hooker Flint secured quick ball. No 8 Lee picked and drove on before off-loading to Bartram, the ball eventually ending up with centre James Betteley who crashed over from close range.

This galvanized Watford, who spurned a series of kickable penalties in an attempt to score the try necessary to get them within 4 points of Pinner. An excellent tackle from Mike Jenkins freed up the ball for Bartram, who showed a superb turn of pace to sprint in from 40 metres out. Unfortunately it was too little too late for Watford, the final whistle coming after Kiely’s conversion.

Skipper Paul Wilson and Coach Dave Ainsley were both furious after the game, despite Watford coming the closest they have yet to a first win. “To have had as much ball as we did and do so little with it is unforgivable” commented Ainsley. “We have a lot to work on in training these next two weeks, before the must win game at Cuffley”.

Watford: G. Wilson, Flint, Philpott, Hill, Bridge, Martin (P. Jenkins 50), M. Jenkins, Lee, Bartram, Kiely, Gilmore, Betteley, Portway, Ogun, P. Wilson