Sat 12 Feb 2022
After back-to-back league defeats, Stags got back on track on Saturday with a hard fought away win against a gritty Daventry side.
The Stags side featured four personnel changes from the home defeat to Bourne a fortnight ago, JJ Ward (sponsored by Rajpoot Indian Restaurant) and Richard North returning to the three-quarters, Sam Hirons coming in at flyhalf with Dan Malem (sponsored by Gunite) dropping to the bench, and Jace Craig coming into the back row for his only second league start.
On a cold and blustery day, Daventry started the brighter, having the lions share of possession for the opening 10 minutes without troubling the scoreboard, until Stags secured some possession of their own and scored with their first attack of the game, as second row Bodge Saunders (sponsored by Griggs Project Services Ltd) went through a hole in midfield to canter in under the posts untouched, following a line break from centre North.
From the restart Stags failed to effectively clear their lines, allowing the home side to apply a spell of pressure before a Stags scrum on the 22m line was turned over, the Daventry number 8 breaking from the base before feeding the scrum half who found the outside centre in space to cross for a try which was duly converted to give Daventry a 7-5 lead after 15 minutes.
The lead was short-lived though, as some quick thinking between Hooker Luca Proietti (sponsored by The Hare on the Green) and Second Row Nick Vallance on half way followed by some neat interplay with the impressive Saunders saw scrum half Jack Skidmore (sponsored by MAE Construction) in the clear 40 metres out, outpacing the cover to score under the posts, with Joe Hicken (sponsored by Ceres Rural) adding the extras from in front for a 5-12 lead.
The men in green came close to extending their lead three minutes later, with a sweeping backs move from touchline to touchline saw Ward tackled just short of the line by the scrambling Daventry defence.
The final word of the half went to the home side when a looping pass in midfield appeared to wrong foot the Huntingdon defence and allowed the Daventry outside centre over for his second try of the game, which was converted to leave Stags trailing 14-12 at the oranges.
The majority of the second half was a tight affair, with the Daventry inside backs providing a tough defensive examination for the Stags, but Stags looking the better side on the occasions when they were able to get the ball to the edges and utilise their quick outside backs. It was, however, a tight five forward who provided the only score of the second stanza, with Saunders once again operating effectively in the outside centre channel, dummying and going over from 10 metres for his second of the game. The missed conversion from Hicken left Huntingdon with a 14-17 lead with 10 minutes to play.
With Stags pushing for a bonus point and Daventry looking for a winning try, tempers began to fray, with two yellow cards for Huntingdon (Ward and Malem), and a yellow and a red for Daventry marring the closing minutes of the game.
Although Huntingdon went the closest, with Saunders spurning a hat trick in the dying moments, there was to be no further scoring, giving Huntingdon a 17-14 victory and their first double of the season, having beaten Daventry 26-24 in another close encounter at the Racecourse back in October.
Jace Craig caught the eye with an impressive, all-action performance, but the try scoring exploits of the consistent Bodge Saunders narrowly pipped him to the Man of the Match award.
Coach Reggie Reid said after the game “Wasn’t a performance to write home about but it was a win on the road, and they are hard to come by in this league. I thought Jace Craig was outstanding today, really put himself about and showed a few of the more established players what hard work looks like.
We were dangerous with the ball in our hands, especially in the backline but we just couldn’t keep hold of it for sustained periods. We made an average side look good at times, but the bottom line is we got the W and we move on to next weekend where we look to right the wrongs of our day in Dunstable. Its going to be a big ask as they are sitting in 3rd, but we are at home and will be coming in off the back of a good week’s training.”
