Hertford visited World’s End Lane on a sunny but cold morning and came away with the spoils. The teams started off well matched with both sides tackling hard and giving away little ground. However, slowly the big Hertford forwards started to edge the battles. From a line-out close to the OG’s line, they set up a rolling maul which looked to have opened the scoring but for dogged defence causing a knock-on. Unfortunately, from the resulting 5m scrum, Hertford took the ball against the head. After some last-ditch tackling, they managed to recycle and open the scoring from close – 0-7.

The match reverted to periods of solid defensive work from both sides. But Hertford then stretched their lead from a penalty kicked into the corner. The forwards called all into the line-out, and another strong maul took them over the line with no error this time – 0-12 as the half-time whistle was blown.

OG’s regrouped well and started the second half strongly. But having camped in the Hertford 22 for a number of phases, they could not find a way through and the ball was stolen. Ronnie took his frustration out on the scrum-half, dumping him firmly on his backside to the sound of loud ‘oohs’ from the touchline. But Hertford continued to perform well with ball in hand despite the ferocious tackling from OG’s. They broke up the field, and from a 5m penalty, broker quickly, recycled well and scored their third try – 0-17.

The game came to an end with the last score of the match. The Hertford forward superiority told again at a 5m scrum, wining it against the head and breaking from the back of the scrum to score – 0-24.

Once again, the coaches praised the commitment and tackling of the OG’s but we found it difficult to match a well-drilled, organised Hertford team whose forwards, in particular, had the ascendancy through much of the game. Back to the training ground Tuesday.