Hertfordshire Stags suffered their second defeat in the RFU National U20 Championship, this time at the hands of Sussex at Chichester on Sunday, 17th February. However the side played better than they did against Hampshire and were encouraged by their second half performance when they scored two tries in the last quarter.

The pack gave a reasonable account of themselves, especially in the line out where they won a few against the throw. The scrums never settled all afternoon with many resets and in the loose the Stags struggled a bit with a makeshift back row caused by late cry-offs. The backs showed promise in attack, but their defensive alignment left something to be desired.

Sussex got off to a great start, when in the third minute they had a line out near the Hertford line and moved the ball to put prop Ashley Halsey (Haywards Heath) over for a try, converted by Joe Govett (Haywards Heath). Sussex dominated play for a while and should have scored but for a forward pass. Then the Stags pack rallied and put in a good forward drive into the Sussex 22 where they won a penalty, Zak Vinnicombe (Saracens Amateurs) kicking the points. The Stags continued to pressure for a while, but Sussex then counter attacked and after 35 min had a scrum 5 metres from the Stags line. From the scrum they drove and put hooker Chris Johnson (Chichester) over for a try, Govett again adding the conversion. The Stags rallied just before half time, but a penalty chance went begging and a possibly scoring pass was intercepted, the half ending 14-3 to the home side.

Susses increased their lead when the Stags knocked on the second half kick off and then conceded a line out 5 metres out. The Sussex font row then completed a trio of tries with prop Adam Day driving over from that line out and Govett kicked the conversion. Sussex threatened to overwhelm the visitors and within 10 minutes had increased their lead when Wing Riche Adams (Havant) gathered a chip ahead to cross the line.

Undaunted the Stags put together a sequence of good possession, which gave the backs an opportunity, and left wing Tom Johnson (Oaklands College) showed his paces. The visitors finally got their reward when they caught and pealed from a line out 10 metres out and No 8 Tom Jankowski crossed the line for a try that Vinnincombe converted. On the half hour the Stags forwards again got good possession and a deft cross kick by Vinnicombe was chased by flanker Miles Dempsey (Fullerians), who touched down for an unconverted try. Unfortunately for the visitors, Sussex had the last word when the Stags defensive weakness allowed Phil Dicken (Chichester) to cross the line to make the final score Sussex 31, Stags 15.

The Stags will entertain the Army U20s at Hertford RFC on Sunday, March 2nd, ko 3.00 pm, in their final pool game.

Hertfordshire: Henry Robinson (Letchworth); Joe Oyesiku (Finchley), Brad Martin (Saracens Amateurs), Joe Weston (Saracens Amateurs), Tom Johnson (Oaklands College); Zak Vinnicombe (Fullerians), Elliott Birkbeck (Northampton); Ollie Day (Bishop's Stortford), James Coston (Old Albanian) (Capt), Roger Williams (Old Albanian), Jamie Molloy (Fullerians), James Alford (Letchworth), Miles Dempsey (Fullerians), Tom Haller (Old Albanian), Tom Jankowski (Welwyn)

Replacements: Barry Mellor (Letchworth) (Jankowski 56m), Joe Frewin (Fullerians) (Alford 40min), Tom Sadler (Saracens Amateurs) (Robinson 56m)