Letchworth 19 - 15 BERFC

A short trip up the A1 to Letchworth as we faced a side that we’ve done battle with many times over the years. Our last trip had seen a ride an in air ambulance for the youngest member of the Stockwell dynasty – thankfully no repeat trip this time for anyone.

With the temperature some 10 degrees below the previous Sunday – this was decent rugby weather. The first 10 minutes was played at a frantic pace, with neither side able to gain control of the game, or the ball.

The Barnet back line were given a fair amount of ball, but the final pass just eluded them, and from one such mistake, the Letchworth outside centre, who had been making a nuisance of himself all game, snapped up the ball and another strong run saw him brush aside several tackles and finish under the posts for Letchworth to take a 7-0 lead.

A quick change in personnel, and Barnet finished the first half strongly to close the score to 7-5 at half time.

With the wind behind their back in the second half, Barnet pressed strongly, and were rewarded for their endeavours with a second try, in the corner, to take the lead 7-10. Barnet pressed strongly once more, and Letchworth defended resolutely. From a penalty in front of the posts Barnet sensed a score, only for some sloppy passing to present the Letchworth winger with a gift wrapped intercept – and he sprinted the length of the pitch for Letchworth to regain the lead 14-10.

That try gave the Letchworth boys a boost – and with their tails now up they scored a second try to stretch their lead to 19-10.

With the clock running down, Barnet scored once again to bring the score to 19-15, and despite strong pressure from Barnet in the last couple of minutes, Letchworth held firm for the victory.

A good even game – for the second week running against opposition in the league above us – and a valuable lesson learned.