Hitchin 76 Old Ashmoleans 0
After a couple of weeks of disappointing results Old Ashmoleans felt the full force of a Hitchin backlash on Saturday. Scoring 12 tries, Hitchin blew the visitors off the pitch with a relentless display of open running rugby, that left Old Ashmoleans chasing shadows for much of the match.
The writing was on the wall for the visitors almost as soon as the match started. Within 35 seconds of the kick off winger Marlon Banton pounced on a dropped pass in the OA's backline to kick and chase the ball over the line to open the scoring. Within minutes of the re-start Dale Baines set his centre partner Lewis Skittrall up for a second score. Baines himself scored the third, having broken the OA's defence with a series of outrageous side steps. Second row Ryan Arbon, who was having a field day stealing ball in the lineout, ignited the next try. A clean take from an OA's lineout was fed to Jack Peachey who, having broken the initial defensive line, fed an inside ball to openside Karl Brooks who drove over the line. Just before the halftime break it was stolen lineout ball from Arbon again that set up No. 8 Jim Panter who orchestrated a perfectly balanced driving maul before touching down himself. With Peachey scoring 4 of the 5 first half conversions the score stood at 33 - 0.
If the first half was rather one sided it was nothing compared to the complete demolition in the second period of play. Hitchin pounced of every mistake made by the visitors and ran a further 7 unanswered tries in. Within 2 minutes of the start of the half Hitchin had set up a breakdown 5m from the OA's line. With the defense desperate to cover the threat out wide they left the fringes unguarded. Scrum half Clint Sacks did not need to be asked twice and flew off the base to open the halfs scoring. The next try came from open play with the ball moving through half of the Hitchin hands before finally being linked by Willie Corrigan and Graham King to feed Peachey to touch down. Arbon then broke the line with some strong running before feeding Corrigan who found Joe Benucci who strode over the line untouched. Great handling along the backline the gave Skittrall his second try of the match. A desperate defensive kick from OA's landed in second row Nick Pantons hands. A powerful drive forward broke the defensive line and a sublime off load to James 'Nuts' Boulter produced another Hitchin score. The penultimate try came from a Boulter drive and pass to Sacks for his second score. With the clock running down, once a gain a loose kick from OA's created more problems than it solved. Collected by Stevie Merritt, the winger then danced through the remnants of the opposition to open his seasons first team account and round the scoring of for the Hitchin Young Guns. Peachey added a further 4 conversions to take his personal tally for the day to 21 and Hitchins score to a healthy 76.
Team James Bolter, William Corrigan, Richard Stidolph, Ryan Arbon, Nick Panton, Graham King, Karl Brooks, Jim Panter, Clint Sacks, Jack Peachey, Marlon Banton, Dale Baines, Lewis Skittrall, Chris Betts, Carwyn Morgan
Subs Steve Merritt, Joe Benucci, James Drury, Emma Pragnell
Scores T: Clint Sacks (2), Lewis Skittrall (2), Marlon Banton (1), Joe Benucci (1), Steve Merritt (1), Jack Peachey (1), Dale Baines (1), James Bolter (1), Jim Panter (1), Karl Brooks (1)
C: Jack Peachey (8)
The league: London North West 3