Welwyn 17 Tabard 14

Welwyn deserved their victory on the second meeting of these two teams this season but should have won by a more comfortable margin. Tabard played the first twenty five minutes of the match in their own half, with Welwyn keeping constant pressure on them in all phases of play. New signing Martin Lever made an impressive start and worked well with his fellow centre Jonathan Child. With 10 minutes of the game played, Gareth Hughes kicked a penalty to give the home side a 3-0 lead. Constant and relentless attacking play by Welwyn saw them rewarded with a penalty 15 minutes later for a late tackle on Gareth Hughes and from the resulting lineout 5m from the Tabard line Rob Muggridge barrelled over under the posts to score a try, which was duly converted by Gareth Hughes to give Welwyn a 10-0 lead. Tabard then started to gain better possession of the ball and scored a well worked converted try to bring the score to 10-7 after 35 minutes. Another penalty to Welwyn saw the ball passed to Jonathan Child, whose chip kick ahead was charged down but rebounded into his arms and a scything break through the Tabard defence enabled him to put James Coughlan over for Welwyn’s second try. This was duly converted and the teams turned round at half time with Welwyn leading 17-7.

Tabard made a much better start to the second half and Welwyn were under constant attack for a lot of the rest of the game. Andrew Laycock replaced Rob James on the flank and William Freeston moved up to prop when Jacques Naude was replaced by Nick Elliott. Dogged defence by Welwyn and a couple of outstanding tackles by Alex Cross and Jonathan Child prevented Tabard from scoring. However, their continued perseverance saw them score a second converted try to bring the score to 17-14. Tom Winter replaced James Coughlan and, with twenty minutes of the game remaining, Welwyn had to dig deep to keep out a Tabard team that were beginning to sense that they could win the game. Welwyn turned down the opportunity of an extra 3 points by opting to kick for touch from a penalty but they were unable to utilise ball from the ensuing lineout and Tabard again took play into the Welwyn half. With 5 minutes remaining, Tabard were awarded a very kickable penalty which would have brought the scores level but opted to take a quick tap ball and their charge for the Welwyn line was halted.

Man of the Match was Craig Gunnell.

Team 
Full Back Luke Williams
Wing Alex Cross
Centre Jonathan Child
Centre Martin Lever
Wing James Coughlan
Fly Half Gareth Hughes
Scrum Half Craig Gunnell
No 8 Andrew Hawkins
Flanker Rob James
Flanker Owen Hopley
Second Row Rob Picken
Second Row William Freeston
Prop Rob Muggridge
Hooker Simon Banks
Prop Jacques Naude
 
Substitutes
Nick Elliott
Tom Winter
Andrew Laycock