Roundhegians

Hegians travelled the short distance to Yarnbury hoping to continue their winning streak. With Nat Robinson and Jonny Dobson away, Hegians brought back Tom Foxton and Joe Blackman-Gibbs and Josh Esgate came onto the bench for his first game of the season.

Yarnbury started the game brightly but the Hegians defence was well organised and prevented Yarnbury from getting close to scoring. Soon Hegians  were on the attack themselves and some direct forward play put Yarnbury under pressure.  After an exchange of kicks the Yarnbury winger made a mark and decided to take a quick kick but the ball went straight to Alex Jones who ran the ball back beating a number of defenders almost scoring a try. The ball was quickly recycled and after a couple of phases James Dobson was able to break through the defence to score by the posts. Alex Jones made the conversion to take Hegians to a 7-0 lead.

Hegians were a bit careless at the kick off and allowed Yarnbury on to the attack and only some good defence allowed them to push the Yarnbury winger in touch in  the corner. Unfortunately a mistake at the line out allowed Yarnbury to move the ball to the right and then again to the left for the winger to get the try in the corner.

For the next 10 minutes Hegians gradually got on top with increased possession and territory and good runs from Ali Coe and Henry Wareham got them into the Yarnbury 22. Unfortunately Hegians were penalised and Tom Foxton was yellow carded. With a man down Hegians raised their efforts and got back on the attack. Yarnbury tried to clear their lines but a charge down by Henry Wareham allowed him to score a try. The conversion from Alex Jones took the score to 14-5. Within 5 mins Hegians moved the ball to the right to put Jonny Thorpe in space and the pass inside to Elliot Jackson allowed him to score a try. With the conversion the lead was 21-5 when Tom Foxton returned to the pitch as Hegians had scored 14 points with a man down.

Half Time Yarnbury 5 – Roundhegians 21

The game looked comfortable for Hegians and they were soon on the attack and Yarnbury conceded a penalty. Alex Jones pushed the kick just wide of the posts.  Yarnbury then raised their game as the  second half progressed and Hegians had to defend well to prevent a score. Hegians were able to clear their lines well with some good kicking from James Dobson and Harry Wollaston but they were increasingly getting on the wrong side of the referee. Eventually after 50 minutes Yarnbury scored an unconverted try but to make matters worse Hegians received another yellow card and went down to 14 men. Yarnbury almost scored a try out wide and only a good tackle from Elliot Jackson prevented the score

As in the first half the yellow card caused Hegians to raise their game and a good kick from Alex Jones took them  into the Yarnbury half after defending for a while . As Yarnbury tried to run the ball Dave Gregory used his speed to intercept a pass and ran 40 metres to score the try to take Hegians into a 28-10 lead. Yarnbury tried to rally and come back at Hegians but Yarnbury wasted good opportunities to score and this combined with some good defending and pressure from the Hegians defence meant that Hegians maintained their lead . A good interception from Ewan Cameron saved what looked like a certain try to Yarnbury. However after a charge down Yarnbury  eventually scored a try in the corner with just 2 mintes left,

From the kick off Yarnbury tried to run it from deep to gain the bonus point but as was the pattern previously Hegians defence pinned them in their 22 and as they got more desperate Dave Gregory turned over the ball and with an overlap it was left to Ewan Cameron to go through the gap to gain the fifth try which was converted by Alex Jones on the final whistle

Full time Yarnbury 15- Roundhegians 35

A good bonus point win for Hegians who defended well and took their opportunities when presented. Yarnbury can feel unfortunate about the margin of defeat as they had enough possession and territory to do better. However, Hegians never looked like losing this game and were able to raise their game whenever they needed to. Hegians will have to reflect on the number of penalties they conceded and a lack of discipline resulting in two yellow cards that made this win harder than it should have been.

Next Saturday Hegians will face another tough game at home against Rishworthians who are currently second in the league ko 3.00pm

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