Stone puts in Captain’s performance as Hatfield destroy old enemy Watford to continue unbeaten run

George Stone put in a man-of-the-match performance to help Hatfield turn around a frustrating first half to beat their Herts Merit Table 3 rivals Watford 33-0 at Roe Hill at the weekend.

HQE’s captain George Stone touched down twice in the second half to help his team take their undefeated run to seven league games on the trot.

After a recent run that has seen Hatfield put other teams to the sword from the start of the match, it looked like a very different story was about to unfold at HQE’s home ground on Saturday when Watford frustrated the home side in the first half and even dominated possession for large parts.

There is no love lost between these two sides and they have had some bruising encounters in the past. And it wasn’t looking any different on Saturday. Both teams frustrated each other conceding plenty of penalties creating a deadlock. The only breakthrough of the first half came when Watford gave away a penalty just outside their 22-yard line. Quick thinking from fly half Owen Doyle saw him dink a kick over to the corner where chasing flanker Stuart Yule leaped up to pluck the ball out of the air and crash down over the try line.

At halftime the Hatfield team were given a stern talking to by coach Gary Phillips, and hooker Marc McCrystal took his pack to one side and made sure they knew there was a game to be won!

The talks were the boost Hatfield needed and from then on the home side dominated. Doyle at fly half was the talisman as he distributed balls perfectly for his backs. One of these moves saw winger Jago Penrose switch the ball back inside for full back Rob Jack to break through several tackles before putting the ball down under the posts. Doyle then converted.

This seemed to open the floodgates and the Hatfield pack were seen to have crossed the line, but the ball was held up and Watford given the scrum. Hatfield had been strong in the scrums and were able to push the weaker opposition back over their own line for number 8 George Stone to touchdown and score his first try.

Soon after the restart Yule broke through the gain line and offloaded to Doyle who jinked past an oncoming defender before offloading to outside centre Joel Nziza who ran in for HQE’s fourth try.

With only a few minutes remaining, Hatfield found themselves inside Watford’s 22 and were applying pressure. The ball came to Stone who muscled his way through the opposition to touch down. Doyle once again converted, meaning he only missed one of his five kicks.

“After last week it was disappointing to see how the team performed in the first half.” Said coach Phillips. “If we’d played like that against stronger opposition it could’ve been a different story. We did however turn it around and the second half was greatly improved.”

Hatfield’s next fixture is on Saturday 11 November away to Biggleswade 2nd XV.