Waking up to torrential rain in north London was not the most auspicious of starts to the new U14 season, but the rugby gods decided that we’d be given a slightly more gentle introduction (at least for the parents)- even the drive up was faster than most of the away trips. Cheshunt have a hugely impressive facility (apparently a combination of RFU money and a section 106 contribution from a property developer) and had the perfect field for us - great grass just softened slightly by the rain, and a slope to make it more like training on the Heath.

We had a thin team today, just one sub, and we were taking on a very big team, both physically and in numbers, but the boys went out ready for a battle. The game started with a relatively attritional period - both teams dropping balls repeatedly, but the Hampstead front row did incredibly well, controlling a much larger Cheshunt pack, and maintained a decent territorial advantage for the first part of the match. The attacking play and ruck protection didn’t quite match that performance though, and not scoring when we had the edge proved to be fatal, with Cheshunt scoring a couple of tries at the end of the opening period when a couple of cracks appeared in the heroic Hampstead defence. The second period was a similar story, excellent defence for the most part, with our runners getting a bit isolated and losing the ball a bit more than we probably should have.

The third period saw the boys raise their game though: lifting their heads and upping the intensity and speed. As a result they started to get the ball to the edge and really stress the bigger Cheshunt players. Getting a try with an excellent run, running some interesting first versions of line outs with a rolling maul, the boys generally came out feeling much better than at the half. That then continued into the fourth, with the Hampstead speed really hurting Cheshunt around the edges to score a couple more. Two late tries for Cheshunt on some missed tackles gave them a slightly more flattering score, but at the end it was still Hampstead finishing pushing to score.

Though the overall score wasn’t what we would have wanted, this was a great first test of the season. Real physicality that the boys stood up to well, and some psychologically testing moments as well. There were times when the heads were starting to drop, but they managed to pull themselves together as team. A lot to be very proud of, and to build on.