Champions Too Strong for Herts

County Champions Devon proved too strong for newly promoted Hertfordshire in the County Championship Cup at Plymouth Albion RFC on Saturday. With the core of the team drawn from Plymouth Albion and Exeter Chiefs the forwards were too strong in the loose creating no less than four tries from driving mauls to give them victory by 59 points to 7.

Under the circumstances the Hertfordshire side acquitted itself well, holding its own in the scrums until late in the game and winning their fair share of line out ball. However the backs were starved of possession and had little opportunity, though young Mark Evans (Old Albanian) made a promising debut at scrum half which should bode well for the future.

On a warm sunny day the visitors got off to the worst of starts when a mistake at the kick off resulted in a penalty that full back Gary Kingdom (Exeter Chiefs) slotted over to give Devon a very early lead. This was soon followed up with a powerful forward drive from the Herts 22 that resulted in a try for second row Dave Kimberly (Launceston). Kingdom added the conversion and Devon were 10 points ahead after just 6 minutes. Herts were getting very little possesion at this stage and although one attack fizzled out they were soon forced to concede another penalty that resulted in a visit to the sin bin for Welch and three more points for Devon via the boot of Kingdom.

Mid way through the half another Kingdom penalty was swiftly followed by a fine try when Kingdom broke from his 22 and put away left wing Jon Fabian (Plymouth Albion), Kingdom again adding the conversion. 10 minutes later another drive from a line out resulted in a second try for Kimberley and another Kingdom conversion. Herts did not give up and in the last 10 minutes of the half they put prewssure on the Devon defence. Centre Ed Orchard (Old Albanian) and wing Richard Justice (Hertford) combined well and the move was only halted when Devon were offside. Herts elected to scrum, won good ball and Paul Welch found a gap to score under the posts, Richard Woodard (Luton) adding the conversion.

With confidence from their late first half try, the visitors started the second half positively, but it was not long before the Devon pack re-asserted themselves in the loose. Another long distance drive after 10 minutes put prop Danny Porte (Exeter Chiefs) over the line for a try, converted by Kingdom. Then midway through the half the Devon centres combined well to put Darren Ritchie in for an unconverted try and two minutes later the forwards drove wing Fabian over the line to take their total to 47 points. After 30 minutes Evans was rather harshly sin binned and while he was off Devon replacement Ben Rowntree (Westcountry Warriors) scored. Finally, centre Pat Sykes (Canterbury) burst through a tired tackle to score, Kingdom adding the conversion to make the score 59-7.

Many lessons were learned from the game and Herts have a week to re-group before entertaining Devon's neighbours Cornwall at Hertford RFC next Saturday, kick off 3.00 pm

Hertfordshire Team: James Drew (Manchester); Richard Justice (Hertford, Ed Orchard (Old Albanian), Paul Welch (Hertford), Adam Roberts (Hertford); Richard Woodard (Luton), Mark Evans (Old Albanian); Jim Remfry (Sedgley Park), Brent Lemiere (St Albans), Brent Green (St Albans), Peter Coke (Hertford), Adam Amos (Stevenage Town), Alfred Church Hertford), Ian Hardcastle (Westcombe Park), David Archer (Henley Hawks).

Replacements: Jon Arrowsmith (Harpenden) (Church 67m), Ray Adde (Hemel Hempstead) (Welch 58m), Gareth Lewis (Stevenage Town) (Orchard 67m), Ryan Long (Luton) (Remfry 25m), Neil Bamber (Stevenage Town) (Green 67m), John Sayers (St Albans) (Amos 53m), Austin Cox (Welwyn) (Coke 74m)