January to April 2009
Evan Hitchman feeding the scrum against Verulamians 17th January 2009. His Second Row makes great hooker!!
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The Second XV should have been back in Merit Table action on Saturday 31st January following their early year win by 37 points to 7 against Old Verulamians 2nds. However, Enfield Ignations 4ths cried off and so they were awarded the match as a 25-0 win. This meant that they maintained second place in the Merit Table. However, with Enfield now having cried off five time in the season they may leave the Table, in which case our early season loss against them would be expunged as would Ruislip's win. This would bring us level on points.
They therefore played a friendly against UCS OLD BOYS 2nds and went down 5 - 17. Captain JP Shanahan said "In my opinion a good result. UCS are a well drilled outfit with a lot of experience and they turned up with a large number of reserves (12 to be exact). Excellent set pieces and some good flowing rugby ensued, coupled with some tenacious tackling. Towards the end of the game though the number of replacements from UCS paid off and we conceeded two late tries in the corner in the last 5 mins of the game. All in all, I think the result was a good one. The game hung in the balance for the majority of the game and the arrival of fresh legs proved too much. Credit where due, we had three players on their first outing for the Super Two's and all did themselves and the team proud."
"We have Hertford away next which will not be a walk in the park and a win there will really throw the cat amongst the pigeons as regards the table and will set up an almighty clash with Ruislip for the title, in the last league game of the season to be played on March 7th."
Saturday 21st February
This week saw the Two's back to league action away to Hertford. After the period of inactivity for the two's and with Hertford taking some pretty significant scalps throughout the course of the league, Hendon prepared themselves for what was always going to be a physical encounter. Perhaps it was some higher force then that dictated the squad. With a number of backs being unavailable the gaps were plugged with forwards and battle commenced.
Hertford started ferociously and Hendon had to wake up pretty quickly as Hertford recycled the ball well and put Hendon very much on the back foot. Some rallying calls went through the squad and Hendon eventually cleared their lines by combining some strong defense with a well placed boot into touch. Hendon then won the line-out with a good nick from Shrek and the ball was zipped out to the centres. Helio, (proving yet more of his versatility by playing centre rather than his usual No.8 spot) managed to hack/nudge/kick the ball through for Nunez (Buzz) to display some fancy football work of his own and go over in the corner. The conversion was missed and Hendon knew that after the early pressure already exerted by Hertford they had no time to take a breather. Hertford kicked off, the ball was well taken by Hendon and boot to ball again got Hendon back into the Hertford territory, a mistake by the full back saw a scrum down Hendon put in and the pack did well. It was then a case of sticking to the game plan as Hendon's forwards crashed up the hard yards with good supporting play and from the sideline it was hard to determine whether it was Okret or Short who managed to ground the ball (needless to say it will be thrashed out over a couple of pints). The conversion slipped wide and with the score at 10-0 It wasn't missed by Hendon that a converted score by Hertford would get them right back into the game. This fact obviously wasn't missed by Hertford either as they piled on the pressure from the ensuing kick off, but they forced a little too hard and a loose ball was slipped to Charles playing on the wing. A fantastic run, saw him break two tackles and it was a very brave Hertford fullback who eventually managed to halt his rampaging run. The move not over though, a great pop pass to Helio in good support saw Helio go over and another 5 added to the score board. Hendon then really upped the intensity and much as I hate to say it I cant remember Stevie G's try (Sorry Steve, I owe you a pint). With the score at 20-0 it was time for the old guard to show the youngsters how to do it. Laurence Lennon ! crashed over in typical Lennon style just before half time and with the conversion made, Hendon went into the break 27-0 up.
The second half started with much the same as the first finished. Hertford continued to play a good combination of hard running and strong tackling rugby but it was Hendon who really made the opportunities. Another of the old guard, Tony Connor crashed over after some strong running again and with the conversion it took the tally to 34 points. An injury to Steve G. saw Danny Hayes come into centre to replace him and (I think we now know why Danny plays with the pack, tackling was great, positioning was concerning, he proved me wrong towards the end of the game). Another outstanding run by Charles saw him break four tackles and the same fearless Hertford full back bought him down just short of the line. Shrek in good support gathered the ball and went over to take the score to 39. Prior to that score, Okret could have got on the score line (possibly again) but was pulled back after a very neat chip through. His drop to the ground was more akin to football and the ref was having none of it. (We saw it happen though Ale and though it wasn't given we all thought you scored a perfect ten for artistic interpretation). With the final move of the game Danny Hayes popped up in the corner to score a try and serve me a piece of humble pie as re his positioning (What's a centre doing out there Dan)? Final score Hertford 0 Hendon 44
A fantastic result against a team that played very well. Hendon's set pieces were excellent and tireless open play paid off. Everyone who showed got a run out and it would be unfair to say some individual played better than others as everyone played well. It was a great team display and a professional outing. The penalty count.....1...on both sides. A great game played in good spirit.
Saturday 7th March 2009
The Super 2's finished their league campaign in Herts Middlesex 4 merit table against Ruislip 3's at home. Both Hendon and Ruislip have been consistent throughout the league and both teams were obviously looking forward to the clash. Ruislip fielded a quite different outfit from the last encounter and it looked like they opted for experience over youth for this match, a gamble which ultimately paid off. Ruislip won the toss and opted to go against the wind for the first half. Hendon kicked off and the game was afoot. Early pressure by Hendon led to the first score with Alex Whittaker crossing the line and scoring beneath the posts the try was duly converted by Evan Hitchman and Hendon took the lead 7-0. Ruislip though came back strongly and pressurised Hendon well. A couple of missed tackles were to blame and after the hard work had been done by the Ruislip winger he still managed to pop the ball up and the Ruislip centre went over and underneath the posts. Try converted. Hendon responded well and again kept the pressure on. A mixed bag by both teams in the set pieces saw possession change hands a number of times, and infuriating scrummaging saw Hendon win the ball against the head but unable to to secure their own. On a rare occasion when Hendon did win their own ball it was passed to the centres and as the ball was taken into contact, Ruislip came over the top of the ruck, and spotted by the ref Hendon were awarded the penalty. Evan Hitchman came good with the boot again and the score swung back into favour with Hendon at 10-7. Again Ruislip came back and a well worked move saw them take advantage of the overlap and go over in the corner. The try was converted. A great kick and full credit to him. 10-14 Ruislip and 30 mins gone. The last play of the first half had the Ruislip spectators heart in mouth as they thought Ruislip went over again but excellent defending by Connor saw him holding the ball up. The Ref was on hand and with the score not awarded Hendon went into the break 10-14 down. The 2nd half kicked off in much the same fashion, however it was Ruislip who broke the deadlock and scored in the corner, again the try was converted, again a fine kick. 10-21 to Ruislip. Despite Hendon maintaining pressure well and holding most of the possession Ruislip defended solidly and thwarted repeated attempts by Hendon to get back into it. Hendon then had to take the defensive approach as a sin binning saw Hendon down to 14 men. Ruislip failed to capitalize on the extra man and it was only very late in the match that Ruislip took the last points of the game with a drop goal. Again Hendon rallied but it was not to be. Ruislip remained steadfast in their defense and the final whistle saw Ruislip take the win 10-24.
Skipper J P Shanahan said after the game "Reflecting on the league season what can I say but a fantastic achievement by the two's. The same "never say die" attitude and belief in one another has seen us once again deliver more than was expected. On the back of last years promotion we really didn't know what to expect and there were those who said we would be lucky to stay up. It is with an enormous amount of pride then, that we finish our League campaign in the position we did. We have pushed hard throughout the season and got some great results. We have seen a number of players come and go throughout and yet the ethos of the two's remains as it always was. New arrivals are welcomed and encouraged to get involved and we have seen some players really grow throughout the season to date. Others have impressed the First team coaches and have been given the opportunity to step up, where they have done themselves and the jersey justice.
With the league campaign over we now look forward to the cup and our expectations remain as high as ever."
The Merit Table Cup
After a good away win 7 points to 43 against a determined Barnet Elizabethans 3rd team in the Merit Table quarter finalson 4th April Hendon's 2nd team hosted league champions Ruislip in the Semi-final on 18th April. This was the third meeting between the two teams this season with the two previous encounters having gone Ruislips' way.
Skipper JP Shanahan said before the game "This is an amazing group of players who have improved throughout the season. We are looking forward to the Ruislip game and are confident in our ability. The game against Barnet was a match where the conditions were tailor made for backs play, however 6 of the 7 tries scored were from the forwards. This week our backs are likely to see a lot more of the ball as we will adapt our style of play to counter that of Ruislip. Ruislip will be going into the game as favorites and that suits us just fine, we're known for our ability to cause upsets and causing one in the semi-final of the cup is about as good as you can get".
Unfortunately, history was repeated and Ruislip came out on top 8 points to 19 to go forward into the Final against Hertford 6th, who they defeated comfortably by 79 points to nil.
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