We entertained Hartlepool OB in the Waterfall Cup this Sunday and got off to a great start. This was the third encounter against a team we convincingly beat at the start of the season, but we were met by a much improved team at their place at the start of February.

George made his debut on the wing and got off to a flyer, finishing off a great team try in the corner. The lads dominated for the first 10-15 minutes and were 15-0 up at this point. But Hartlepool got stronger as the half went on, and with some missed tackles, they pulled level just before the break. Other first-half tries were scored by Ben and Riley, but team play was excellent throughout.

After some words of encouragement at half time (once the ref had caught his breath), the lads came out strong and quickly got a grip of the game. Some really strong defence prevented Hartlepool from scoring, and we raced back up the pitch to score through Ben. Ben was in his element today, the team working hard to give him space to exploit, and he rounded off a number of positive forward runs by just putting his head down and racing to the corners. Jake, isaac, and Leo all played out of position today but put in amazing performances, and Olly, Nicky, and Riley were so strong around the breakdown against a strong and physical side. Leo scored two great tries of his own, and Olly chipped in with a typical strong run to score, but it was the physical battle that really impressed us today, both in defence and attack.

End of match team talk so positive today, so many great aspects to our game, just need a little more consistency going forward. And we are doing all this with next to no subs each week, a real testament to their application and fitness levels.

So many nominations for player of the match this week, including George on his debut, Jake in the centre, but it was Ben who pipped it for his finishing ability. Isaac was nominated as the oppositions player of the match.

Well done lads, keep up the great work.