The forward battle was pretty even with both scrums and lines out going with the head and throw. In the loose Herts won their fair share of ball but Gloucestershire were able to win the ball a little more quickly, which gave greater scope for attack. Behind the scrum, both sides made errors - the home side too many handling errors and the visitors' kicking from hand gave away too much possession. Overall too, the home defence was that bit tighter than the visitors' and the home side were able to counter attack with more freedom.

Hertfordshire probably had the best of the opening exchanges and Ian Crompton (Stevenage Town) and Chris Rainbow (Newbury) soon made inroads into home territory. But after 10 minutes a good break by the Gloucs scrum half, Paul Knight (Moseley), forced Herts to concede a penalty. The Gloucs pack caught and drove form the ensuing line out and flanker Leo Halavatau (Pertemps Bees) was over for the first score. Tim Stevenson (Hartbury College) added the conversion. Five minutes later Gloucs increased their lead with a Stevenson penalty after Herts were offside.

Hertfordshire continued to compete well and gradually put pressure on the Gloucestershire defence. They got their reward in the 33rd minute when Gloucestershire conceded a penalty following a good Herts scrummage and Richard Woodard opened the Herts account. Shortly after Handre Schmidt (Hertford) almost breached the home defence with a neat chip kick and catch but the movement was stopped in the home 22. Then just before half time, Gareth Lewis (Stevenage Town) made a an outside break in the centre, after the forwards had won quick loose ball, and put Crompton in in the left corner. Unfortunately there was still time for Gloucs' Stevenson to kick a penalty as Herts were penalised from the restart, to make the half time score 13-8.

The game was in the balance at the start of the second half, but the first ten minutes or so did not go Herts way. The home full back, Tom Jarvis (Lydney) made a fine run deep into Herts territory and from the resulting maul, Gloucestershire were held up over the line. Then from a 5 metre scrum, scrum half Knight broke through for a neat try, Stevenson adding the two points to open the home led to 20-8. From the restart wing Sylvan Edwards (Lydney), ran dangerously and although the movement broke down, Rainbow received a yellow card for a high tackle.

Fortunately Herts closed ranks and did not concede any points while one short, though it took some determined defence to stop Gloucs as they got very close on occasions. Some wayward kicking out of hand gave the home backs opportunities to run in open play and on the half hour wing, Andy MacRae (Lydney) made the most of his chance to score an unconverted try. The Herts response was swift. They immediately reached the Gloucs 22, put the defence under pressure, gained a penalty that they ran and eventually Schmidt was bundled over in the corner for a try. For the last ten minutes the pattern remained the same. Herts continued to press, but every so often Gloucestershire would break out dangerously and in the end neither side scored again, Gloucestershire shading the game 25-13.

Next Saturday Hertfordshire hosts Devon at Hertford RFC, kick off 3.00 pm.

Hertfordshire: Tom Smit (Tabard); Handre Schmidt (Hertford), Gareth Lewis (Stevenage Town), Luke Sloan (Hertford), Ian Crompton (Stevenage Town); Richard Woodard (Unattached), Toby Prescott (Tring); Brent Green (Hertford), Tavita Faamausili (Stevenage Town), Simon Carter (Newbury), Adam Amos (Stevenage Town), Andy Johnson (Hertford), Dave Archer (Henley Hawks) (Capt), Craig Wilson (Hertford), Chris Rainbow (Newbury).

Replacements: Mike Green (Hemel Hempstead) (Faamausili 76 min), Ben Basely (Hertford) (Johnson 58 min), Neil Bamber (Stevenage Town) (Green 48 min), Peter Coke (Hertford) (Amos 72 min), Ray Adde (Hemel Hempstead) (Woodard 53 min), Steven Small (Unattached) (Lewis 53 min), Jon Child (Welwyn) (Smit 68 min).