After a successful run of results, the away fixture against a very strong Hertford line-up brought OAs u13s back to earth with a bump on Sunday. OAs started the game in an unusually lethargic fashion and Hertford were in the mood to take advantage with some very aggressive and direct running from their forwards. With the OAs scrum going backwards a little too easily and the backs being forced to operate under much more pressure than in recent weeks, handling errors also crept in meaning possession was regularly turned over in the first 10 minutes.

Hertford took full advantage and opened the scoring with a well worked try and OAs had to regroup following an injury to Rhys Harries that brought Tariq on to the field. To their credit, the OAs boys battled back and a more stable scrum and some smart passing released Freddie on the wing – he still had much to do but he had the speed to move away from the cover defence and the strength and balance to beat the full back to score.

Despite this lift for OAs, the home team roared back before halt time with two further tries to leave the score 15-5 to Hertford at HT. The second half began poorly for OAs when some slack tacking from the restart allowed the Hertford number 8 through to score. OAs best period was to come next and the high point of the match was a try from well inside the OAs 22. Harry and Tom released the outside backs and a multi phase move brought a further try for Freddie.

The final 10 minutes saw OAs bravely (maybe too bravely!) try to run the ball from anywhere on the field and this inevitably brought some mistakes that Hertford capitalised on and they eventually ran out 35-10 winners on the day. Some lessons to learn on the day for the boys but to their credit they took defeat with good grace.

Stephanie Wells,

Under 13s