Watford 1st XV 8 Vs. 10 Old Abbotstonians 1st XV

Man of the Match: Ollie Hopkins

Watford began brightly, however the larger and more experience Abbotstonians pack were exerting a huge degree of pressure at the Watford scrum. This resulted in poor ball for the pacey Watford backline, who were subsequently unable to generate any momentum. Within 10 minutes the visitors were two scores up, both unconverted and both coming from scrums on the Watford 5 metre line. Rather than crumble in the face of such overwhelming odds, the home side rallied and came at the away team with a renewed ferocity. The intensity of the Stags tackling and rucking put Abbotstonians on the back foot, and with the visitors rattled Watford began to play more of the game in opposition territory. After the pack won yet another penalty at the breakdown, man of the match Hopkins raked a huge kick down the touchline to bring Watford just outside the visitors 22. A well rehearsed lineout move sent Lee through unoposed for his 5th score of the season. Unfortunately Sanchez was unable to add the extras, making the score 10-5 in Abbotstonians favour. Soon after, an excellent break from Kiely led to Gilmore, making his maiden first team appearance of the season, being put through 20 metres from the line. He was somewhat cynically taken high, Sanchez making amends for his earlier miss by adding three points. Abbotstonians finished the half strong, with their pacey 8 being stopped by a superb last ditch tackle by fullback Paul Wilson.
 
The second half was, if anything more intense than the first, and the contest at the breakdown was fierce. Watford players were flying into rucks and causing severe disruption to Abbotstonians ball, and indeed the remainder of the game was fought to something of a stalemate. Neither team were able to make serious inroads into the opposition half, and scoring chances were limited to a long range penalty for each team, both of which were missed. The game was temporarily halted following a serious looking neck injury to replacement second row Conor Stevens. Fortunately there was no long term damage, and Conor is now recovering at home. Despite the Stags enjoying large swathes of posession in the second half, they were unable to breach the excellent Abbotstonians defence. The game ended with both teams out on their feet, a final score of 8-10 perhaps a little harsh on Watford, who will feel that they deserved more than a losing bonus point from this game.
 
Skipper Flint could not fault his teams effort. "Were it not for a lack of experience at the scrum, we would quite possibly have won todays game. The lads ran themselves into the ground for the victory, and but for a bit more luck we could easily have come away with the it. All credit to Abbotstronians, who played very well."
 
Watford 1st XV: Philpott, Flint, Hicks, G. Wilson, Makinson (Stevens 15, Munday 60), Hammill, Dunlop, M. Lee, Bennett, Hopkins, Gilmore (Tucker 70), Kiely, Cox, James, P. Wilson.
 
Tries: M. Lee x 1
Penalties: Sanchez x 1