Herts Under 16s travelled (oh, how they travelled!) to Roehampton to play Middlesex at the splendid Bank of England facilities. Having survived the trek around both the North and South Circular roads, they overcame some spirited late resistance to beat Middlesex Under 16s by 15 points to 10.

Any early nerves should have been settled by an early penalty, kicked by Jamie Sharp. Herts went on to dominate the first half, but failed to convert their pressure into points. All too often, it seemed, the last pass went astray, overlaps were ignored, or possession was lost. Middlesex spent very little time in Hertfordshire territory, but the final touch was missing. The referee had a busy time with his whistle and ‘scrappy’ was an appropriate description.

But finally the Herts backs put together a string of passes to send Victor Stairmand over wide on the left. Sharp did well in blustery conditions to slot the conversion – 10-0. Herts still couldn’t dominate in terms of points. Stairmand crossed the line again, only for the referee to rule that he had spilt the ball in the action of touching down. The absence of a large screen replay left the travelling support more than a little bemused!

It seemed grimly inevitable that, despite the run of play, Middlesex would get something on the scoreboard. Sure enough, in almost their only foray into the Herts half they managed to kick through and win the race to the touchdown. Their kicker, who had an unhappy day, failed with the conversion, making the score at halftime 10-5 in Herts favour.

The second half saw more of the same, with Herts dominating the territory but failing to provide the necessary finishing touch. A word here for Liam Dolan, who was everywhere in the loose, but picked up a succession of knocks requiring treatment. He eventually left the field and his replacement, Jim Spiers, quickly showed his worth by getting on the scoreboard with a try. No conversion this time, leaving Herts 10 points ahead – 15-5.

Herts spurned the opportunity to take a penalty kick directly in front of the posts, a decision that bemused some of those watching. But being ahead by two scores, it was worth taking the opportunity to see if Herts could impress the Divisional selectors by scoring a third try. Unfortunately they couldn’t, but full marks for taking a chance – champagne rugby!

Perhaps this, along with some Herts substitutions, gave Middlesex fresh heart, because they rallied to finally put some pressure on the away side. As England had shown in the previous two weeks, it only takes a couple of missed tackles to put you back in your own 22, and so it proved. Following a sustained period on the back foot, Herts finally cracked and allowed the Middlesex pack to get over the line – the referee was confident that the ball was grounded correctly and the score was 15-10. The Middlesex kicker repeated his earlier form and missed dismally with the attempted conversion.

And that was the final score, Herts successfully playing down the clock to record their second victory in the autumn matches. Captain Jamie George led well and will be confident of taking his team to a clean sweep when they complete their divisional programme against Eastern Counties. The match will be played at his home ground, Haileybury College, on 26 November. Watch this website for details!