The school holidays were finally over, the rain had stopped and the air smelt of football boots and liniment – Rugby was back.

Our round 4 opponent were the lads from Forest. We were a bit unsure what to expect as they had lost their first 2 games, but then came out with a 48-0 victory in the third game over St Ives. We had managed a 31-5 win over the same team in round 1. With this sort of form guide we were expecting our hardest game yet.

To compound things we lost 2 of our 3 available props before the game even started. Alex was taken by the A’s and Liam became unavailable on the morning of the match after receiving a knock at training the night before. So some mad scrambling and we managed to get James Guy, Dan Copping and Jack Sargeant from the C’s to bolster our ranks. Steven Guy also came along as another back up if required.

So the game began.

We continued our recent trend of starting very slowly and Forest had the early run of play. It was apparent from the start that Forest had a gun player in their ranks, playing in the inside backs and he was placing us under pressure from the get go. We managed to get some possession through the scrums (which were our main strength through out the night) and some good runs had us pressuring the Forest line midway through the first half. Dan Copping then managed to crash over in the corner and we were up 5-0.

We then started to get on a bit of a roll and soon after were back on the Forest line soon after. Some quick ball movement out to Harry and we were over in the corner again. 10 – 0 with another hard conversion, which just missed.

But then the boys seemed to switch off a bit. Forest game back at us and were pressuring our line just as half time was blown. Some highly motivational words were then delivered at half time hoping to inspire us for the rest of the game.

The second half unfortunately saw Forest continue their roll. The afore mentioned “gun back” tore through some flimsy defence and he scored under the posts. Surprisingly the kick from in front went straight under the crossbar and we held a slender 10-5 lead. Soon after we had the ball around half way and began to attack through the middle, but somehow we turned the ball over and Forest immediately countered. They too spilt the ball right back into our arms and the ball was quickly moved out to Harry whom whisked away to score out wide. He then topped it off with a fantastic conversion that bounced off the crossbar and over. 17-5 and we had about 12 mins to play.

Unfortunately we knocked on from the ensuing kick off and Forest capitalized soon after. A run up the centre through 3 or 4 of our would-be tacklers a few plays later, and they were in again under the posts. This time with a successful conversion. Scores now 17-12 with about 8 mins to go.

Play then went from one end to the other in a tense last few minutes, with Forest continuing to maintain possession from the break down a bit better than us. But we held on, with some good clearing kicks (and chase) aiding our cause. Final score 17-12 to Hunters Hill.

Overall I think it was a good test for us and I was most pleased that we managed to notch up a victory even when we probably didn’t play our best.

In the forwards I was really pleased with our scrum which was the standout part of our game. Jake lead them well from up front and the substitutes blend in well. Our clean out was not as good as it had been the game prior and a few of our forwards found themselves watching rather than getting involved. Most probably some rust from the holidays and the shifting combinations saw this part of our game down on previous weeks.

The backs were probably the stronger part of our game last night. All of them ran strongly with the ball and Harry was fantastic when we managed to get the ball out to him. Eddie had a great game with the boot and our kick chase was instrumental in getting us out of trouble on many occasions. I would like to mention one back line move the boys attempted that very nearly came off – Excellent effort boys - keep trying this stuff. Also the talk on the field is getting better each week as the inside backs Sam, Eddie and Patty are starting communicate with each other and their team-mates.

Anyway we have had another victory and have some points to work on at training this week (tackling and clean out). Well done all.

Also a big thank you to the substitutes Dan, James, Jack and Steve for their efforts. You have all done your coaches proud. And thanks to substitute manager Sarah as well.

Final Score ; Hunters Hill 17 (Tries – H. Kemp x 2, D. Copping x 1, Conversions – H. Kemp 1/3) bt Forest 12 (Tries – x 2, Conversion – 1/2).

Best and Fairest this week (thanks John) H. Kemp 3, E. Gregory 2, S. Vanderburgh 1.

Manager Andrew will advise next weeks game when we know it.

Coach Ben