League Season Ends With Defeat

Haringey 21
Datchworth 17
Sat 18/04/2009 - London 4 NW

Datchworth ended what has been a renaissance this season with a defeat to Haringey Rhinos.

In the final league fixture, the village side travelled to London and started positively with strong forays into the Rhino's territory. No points were registered early on however, despite the perfect running conditions.

The home side opened the scoring from a set piece, as the blindside winger joined the line creating an overlap. The resulting gap in defence allowed the outside centre to dash through untouched, and the try was converted.

Datchworth continued to pile on the pressure but it was not until late in the half that they scored when openside flanker Anthony Stone crossed on the left hand side. The halftime score was 7-5, with the Villagers confident of the win.

The first phases of the second half didn't follow the script however. With the kick-off failing to make the 10 yards, Haringey opted for a midfield scrum from which the scrum-half threw an abysmal pass which bounced loose down the gain line. Ian Reid and his opposite outside-centre both contested the ball, but the bounce favoured the Haringey man who gathered and stepped into the gap. Henry Mountain and Andy Tarsey made three cover tackles between them in quick succession but were unable to prevent a converted try.

Only minutes later, the Rhino's fly-half looped around his centres to create another overlap - this try, once converted left the Villagers 21-5 down but with half an hour remaining.

To their credit, Datchworth fought back and their dominance in the scrum helped create inroads. Stout defence meant it looked as though the deadlock would not be broken until a moment of individual brilliance from winger Marc Bush. Running from his right wing, he plunged into a crowd of Haringey defenders yet somehow emerged with the ball to score under the posts. Wood added the extras, and the score was 21-12.

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