Herts/Middlesex One: Ucs Old Boys 12 Barnet Elizabethans 63

UCS Old Boys fell to a disappointing 63-12 defeat against relegation battlers Barnet Elizabethans in Herts/Middlesex One.

Coming from a great win the previous week, Old Boys thought it would be an easy victory, but it didn’t happen.

Barnet showed from the first minute they would not be easy to defeat and started attacking the line aggressively, before eventually scoring.

UCS got shocked and started showing its value with some good carries in the secure hands of George Sewell first and Sam Richardson later.

With a nice try from Corne Jansen Van Vuuren, Old Boys shortened the distance on the scoreboard.

Hope came back for UCS, but they had to face two more opponents during the match: individual mistakes and discipline.

Hands in the ruck and offside were some of the calls that gave Barnet the free kick and the possibility to test Old Boys’ ability to contain the damages.

Ball down was another of the dangers as Barnet showed a good organisation of the pack and definitely won against the yellow vest team.

The first half ended 14-5 in favour of Elizabethans.

The second half started, but Old Boys were not able to gain back their focus.

The substitutions, some tactically managed by coach Nick Gourley and some due to injuries, brought fresh energies on the pitch, but unfortunately the general behaviour of the team didn’t change.

Barnet started to score more and more, and UCS captain Liam Clarke tried to appeal to the sense of honour and pride of each individual treading the pitch.

A sign of redemption came towards the end of the game with Tom Arnold bringing with arrogance the ball beyond the try line at the corner flag.

Amazing also was the conversion kick from Jansen Van Vuuren.

UCS performed some more good phases both in attack and in defence, but it was too late.