Our ever-genial hosts at Hertford welcomed CS Stags at Hoe Lane. Thankfully non-freezing conditions – cloudy, relatively mild conditions with little breeze – pitch soft underfoot.

An early penalty five minutes in converted by Hertford gives them a 3-0 lead. Pressure from CS Stags followed, with a five metre line out and drive on the 18 minute marker, but good Stags defence held up on the line. More pressure from Hertford on the 18 minute marker saw good defending from Stags - their 5 metre scrum drive held up over the line. On the 22-minute marker, Stags did pressurise and scored just to the right of the Hertford posts – a ball going out initially left for some good drives, then back out to the right along the line for Tom Johnson to plough his way over the line for a try. Max Tipping converts the try for a 3-7 lead to Stags. 25-minute marker saw a penalty on Stags 22 reversed for back chat, which Hertford converted to make the score 6-7. Hertford then came back with a massive drive, support, and advanced right from their own 22 to score in our left-hand corner. No conversion, so the score now stands Hertford 11- CS Stags 7. Stags then sustained some last minutes first half Hertford pressure to hold up over the line, and the half ended 11 – 7 in Hertford’s favour.

Stags kick off second half, down the slight slope this time. Hertford came out with a good 5-10 minutes of sustained pressure on the Stags line. On the seven minute marker, a Hertford penalty saw them kick to touch on our right corner, winning the subsequent line out and driving over for a try. A successful conversion saw the score now 18-7 to Hertford. Stags roar back, antlers at the fore! On the half hour mark, they were awarded a penalty on the left hand corner. Kick to touch, a clean catch line out, and sustained drive then saw Stags score over in the left corner through Lewis Jones. No conversion by Max, so score now stands Hertford 18- CS Stags 12.

Can we do it? (Yes we can!) On the half hour mark, sustained Stags pressure saw the referee give the Hertford No. 7 a yellow card for impeding. Then followed a great five metre scrum and drive by Stags in front of the posts,, and soon after the referee blew up for a penalty try! Great driving by the Stags again, with Lewis Jones holding at the back. CS Stags take the lead 18-19.

Stags the sustained a lot of pressure for the remaining minutes, which to their credit they did not capitulate to. Hertford pressure then saw them awarded a penalty on the right touchline on our 22-metre line. Hertford decided to kick the penalty. Clock was in the red. Penalty missed left of our posts, fielded by Stags, and kicked out on the dead ball line. Final score Hertford 18 – CS Stags 19.

Summary: So good to be back on winning ways! The team stuck at it and fought back hard second half. Another tough, dour match with errors made on both sides. But CS Stags had the belief and commitment to come back and hold on for the win.

Man of the match: Cam Thomas – No.10 : (as awarded by Oli Bryant, Coach) – brilliantly controlled the game.
Special mentions: (Also as awarded by Oli Bryant, Coach) – Lewis Jones – No. 3: brilliant effort, responsible for the winning penalty try, and always latching on the back of the maul. Credit to whole of the front row. Also, great to have Luke Risman back in the squad, and really pleased with the entire squad effort as well.

CS Stags scorers:
Tries: Tom Johnson (X1) – (5 points), Lewis Jones (X1) - (5 points)
Conversion: Max Tipping (X1) – (2 points)
Penalty Try: – (7 points)