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MATCH REPORT: Guildford 11-45 Hertford

MATCH REPORT: Guildford 11-45 Hertford

Club Admin16 Jan 2019 - 09:15

Sometimes in sport you just need to take a step back from the pressure of the moment and remember to play as a team and enjoy yourself.

That’s exactly what Hertford did against Guildford and the Hoe Lane side reaped the rewards with a seven try demolition of Guilford.

Having suffered the bitter taste of defeat at home to Westcliff, the team directly above them in the London and South East Premier table, the previous week, Hertford head coach Kanwaijit Basra implored his side to go out against Guildford and play like a squad of 18 mates getting together on a Saturday afternoon for a bit of fun.

“We were the better side against Westcliff and after last week you can lose a bit of impetus,” said Basra.

“We had a long chat at Tuesday training and went through the video analysis and saw it was a game we should have won.

“But I said let’s just get back on the horse and we did – they are a bunch of 18 mates who just want to play for each other.

“That’s the enjoyment of it. We took the pressure out of it and just played rugby. The reaction of the players was amazing, they really stepped up.”

Hertford scored early from a catch and drive through Dave Archer to lead 5-0 but Guildford hit back quickly with a well worked try out wide to level the score.

The hosts edged ahead 11-5 with another score after moving the ball through hands, but a quick bit of thinking from veteran Archer saw him score a second try with a tap and go from a penalty close to the line.

Josh Hewitt stretched the advantage to 17-11 at the break with a converted try.
A wonderful score from Richard Streets following around 15 phases gave the visitors the perfect start to the second half, with further scores from Tim Matthews, Chris Joyce and Stuart Smart rounding off an emphatic victory.

“We did a lot of work on ball retention and our defensive patterns as well, so it’s really pleasing that came off,” added Basra.

Hertford host Brentwood this Saturday. “They nearly put 40 points on Sidcup last weekend and we only beat Sidcup narrowly. Every game is tough and we’ve got to make sure we’re on our mettle and go into it in the right mindset.

“Then we’ve got Sutton & Epsom away the week after that. We’ve got be ready for the battle every week.

“We’ve lacked that accuracy to finish in previous games. What was pleasing against Guildford was we kept the ball much better and controlled the game better.

“Also our defensive work in terms of getting the ball quicker and having more numbers worked well.

“They played the ball wide and we adjusted to that after their first two tries, they didn’t really get a sniff after that which was great.

“There have been good numbers at training. We’ll keep pushing until the end of the season but it’s a case of just taking every match as it comes. We don’t want to get to ahead of ourselves, maybe that’s the mistake we made.

“We’re nine points behind Westcliff and 11 behind Sutton who are second. They have all got to play each other, Westcliff have got to play Tring and Sutton still.

“We’ve got to go out there and enjoy it and get some fun back into it and take the pressure out of it which is what we did on Saturday. We played aggressively and got the set piece going, we’re in the mix we’ve still got to play Wimbledon at home.

“It’s such a tight league and there are ups and downs all the way. We’re not going to win every game but other teams will lose games.

“We’ve just got to believe in what we are doing and fight for each other.