St Albans Centurions hosted Hemel Stags "A" at the Colosseum on Saturday and started off their East Premier Rugby League season with a 30 to nil clean sheet.

With both teams side-lined since August 2019 they were both very eager to get stuck from kick off.

The Cents were without their talismanic player coach Joe (Swede) Shaw-Bretagne however were not without the Steely determination of their regular battering rams of Josh Lawrence, Scott Clewlow and Sam Bucknall.

Three Centurions made their debut (Will Fairhead, Euan McGonagle and Josh Dickens) and all added both skill and determination to an already heavily stacked squad.

A two-minute silence was held before the game started in memory of Tony Bottomley, St Albans' long standing club secretary and “Mr Rugby League”.

The Cents had the best of the first half and made the least unforced errors, something that would hinder Stags as the game progressed.

Unfortunately, Hemel were to lose the captain and big hitter Chris Woods through injury which further dented their hopes, from everyone at cents we wish him a very speedy recovery.

Traffic to the try line was all Cents way with tries coming from Josh Lawrence, Will Curtis x2, Joshua Adebayo, Rob Campbell, Adam Jasinski and Jake Lawrence. Hemel had a try disallowed and went close a few times, but Cents defence held firm.

The Centurions jerseys were also something special, purchased by Craig Bottomley (Scalp Micro UK), The White Swan St Albans, Hertfordshire Air Conditioning and Mainline Sports/Muscle injury clinic. The jersey was in memory of Tony, the main logo being a mhomage to the NHS (Thank You NHS) and the name 'Bottomley' was worn by every player in remembrance.

MOTM – Will Curtis

Also, a special mention to club stalwart Mick O’shea (Biggus Mickus) for livestreaming the match to a global audience through the St Albans Centurions masters Facebook page.

Next fixture 15th May 230pm - Brentwood Away.