Hungerford RFC – a bit of a bashing but…
After some good games in recent weeks – including a close-fought winner against the Newbury Stags only a week ago – Hungerford RFC had reasons to be chipper but the outing to Henley wasn’t straight forward.
First off, with Hungerford short of a full team, the match became a “friendly” and Henley II (putting up a full squad of 18, all eager to play) provided a couple of players into the Hungerford team on rotation. It meant Henley II would take the league points but Hungerford would avoid the 5 point penalty of a “no match”.
Then there’s the league reorganisation of a couple of years’ ago, which has created anomalies of truly amateur teams facing “semi pro” teams, such as Henley II, that has affected several levels of the sport.
Of the match, Henley II played with strength, athleticism and good game-play anticipation and, of course, the tries flowed to them, many converted for the full 7 points.
The Hungerford fan “take away” is that they never stopped playing. There was vigour and courage, if not always accuracy. They did create opportunities and, here and there, some real chances of a score. It was a pity Hungerford missed the penalty at 35 minutes in the first half. Their best drive – and it was fab – was 10 minutes into the second half and a fabulous chance of a try just a couple of minutes later, followed by an unconverted try 10 minutes after that.
Kick on! Hungerford are home to Crowthorne on Saturday, 28th September.
