Matchbeat

The new rugby season was ushered in at Hoe Lane with two of last seasons National League Three strugglers meeting in blustery conditions. With the Hertford and Old Patesians teams also containing several changes from last campaign the match was a stop start affair. Andy Johnson began his first game as Hertford skipper but it was counterpart James Pettigrew who drove over in only the 2nd minute. The visitors strong pack gave Hertford trouble all afternoon and centre Ben Parker extended their lead before the interval Jake White converting for a 12-0 advantage. Immediately from kick off prop Chris Downes was sinbinned for playing the man without the ball and Superblues took full advantage with Tongan Sione Onesi posting the first home points and Rob Colborne converting. 7-12 at the break. 7 minutes into the 2nd half which OPs had dominated Adam Roberts pounced on a wayward pass to score unchallenged and Colborne converted to secure the lead. The same combination extended Hertfords advantage to 9 points but with Superblues other Tongan recruit Talite Vaileti yellow carded for not rolling away from the tackle Old Pats also made numbers tell when Downes forced his way over. The remaining 4 minutes gave the crowd some nervous moments with Hertford displaying their renowned defensive qualities to pick up the 4 points. Their next league game is against newcomers Chinnor who had an even narrower first day victory, the other winners being Westcombe Park, North Walsham, Lydney, Southend, and Bridgwater & Albion
Hertford play a friendly at Welwyn on Tuesday night
Team: Brady, Lewis, Storey, Roberts, Justice (Sloan), Colborne, Stringer, Johnson B, Wilson, Onesi, Johnson A(Baseley), Vaileti, Patton (Birchall) Forrest, West (Green)