Whitchurch 75 vs Telford Hornets 10

This was a game the home side were expected to win easily with Telford at the bottom of the league without a win all season but for the first 20 minutes each side cancelled themselves out with no one crossing the line. Telford were the bigger more experienced side against 7 of last years colts for the home side and it was the visitors that scored the first try in the 25th minute. A missed conversion and 2 minutes later Whitchurch sprung into life with the ball being spun out along the backs to winger Josh Hares to score his first try on his debut for the 1st. team who ran past 2 defenders to score in the corner. George Owen missed the conversion, but the scores were level for only a few minutes before Liam Udy picked the ball up from the back of the scrum and passed to man of the match Ben Mason to score which was successfully converted by Owen. Whitchurch were now using their youth and pace and following a good run by Henry Hockenhull to pass out to Hares on the wing who then passed inside for George Owen who ran in and scored for him to convert a relatively easy conversion. Robbie Leughton then added another try under the posts for Owen to convert giving the Red men a 26:5 lead at the break.

In the first few minutes of the second half Telford used their dominant scrum and drove over for their second and last try of the game. It was Liam Udy again at the back of the scrum who picked the ball up ran at the Telford defence and passed to Hares again to score his second of the game, again converted by Owen. The Whitchurch captain was then yellow carded for not wrapping his arms in the tackle but Whitchurch were almost unstoppable by now and the ball was passed along to the touchline for Hares to run in past 3 defenders and score under the posts for his third try of the game. Ben mason then went on one of his strong runs sidestepping defenders and shaking off the tackles to score under the posts again for Owen to convert for the extras. Veteran Danny Nicolas then went on a good run before passing to substitute James Marvell who put on the gas and outran the Telford defence. Elliot Horton then charged down a Telford kick as they tried to clear their lines managed to keep the ball and passed to Marvell again who ran past the defenders to score under the posts. Robbie Leighton then got his second try of the game for Owen to convert again before in the last minute Ben Mason got his hat trick of tries for Owen to convert and leave the final score 75:10

This was an impressive win for Whitchurch whose side is probably one of the youngest in the league but their commitment to defence and their ability to run at pace is giving the team a huge lift. There were 2 first team debuts for George Owen and Josh Hares who both excelled with Owen kicking 10 out of the 11 tries and Josh scoring a hat trick. This will give director of rugby Danny Matthews a headache with selection next week when they travel to top of the table Crewe and Nantwich who have yet to be beaten this season. Kick off is at 2:15 for any supporters wishing to travel.

The second team fixture did not go ahead due to opponents Telford 2’s unable to get a full squad for the short trip to Whitchurch. Next week the second team are away at Trentham to maintain their unbeaten run this season.