St Albans earned bragging rights in their local derby with Hemel Hempstead, beating them 22-3 at Boggymead on Saturday

St Albans earned bragging rights in their local derby with Hemel Hempstead, beating them 22-3 at Boggymead on Saturday

Saints have been a work in progress this season but after last week’s excellent performance, they were looking to build further.

John Chinn’s charges started brightly and captain Mark Kentish gave St Albans a 3-0 lead with an early penalty.

The visitors struck back immediately with a penalty of their own but on nine minutes Kentish struck again to restore the three-point cushion.

As the half wore on, some of the referee’s decisions were proving baffling to both sides. His interpretation of the laws seemed to result in every breakdown ending with a penalty award. Any continuity was stifled as neither side was able to build any momentum. This made for a fractious affair.

Two further long range penalties from Kentish meant Saints took a 12-3 lead to the break.

St Albans brought on Harry Trude and Mark Davies in the second half with their interchangeable pack accommodating the positional move.

It was the visitors, however, who started the second period in confident mood, using the wind to turn the Saints defence and forcing them to attack always from deep.

As in the first half, though, when either side looked to be getting into try-scoring territory, they were penalised.

Strong carrying from Sayers and Turner kept play in the Hemel half but as the game entered the final quarter the score remained 12-3.

Saints’ rush defence was again serving them well, big hits from back rowers Stevenson and Lemiere, in particular, turning ball over on a regular basis. Great line speed in the centres from Lane and Grove also nullified any potential Hemel attack at source, but it was the officials’ whistle that still held court.

With 15 minutes left, the game was finally lit up by a scintillating try from open side Pat Falvey. With play again being stagnated around halfway, scrum half Price made a half break before offloading to Falvey who showed a clean pair of heels to touch down.

Hemel came again but squandered their opportunity after creating the overlap.

With very little time left Saints scored their second try. Trude’s crossfield kick was gratefully collected by Ed Coy who canter over the line.

Coach Chinn named Fraser Morris as the man of the match. He played well and effectively at lock, but when asked to slot in at prop, with Dave Hayes injured at halftime, he performed admirably.

St. Albans XV: Kentish, Coy, Grove, Lane, Taylor, Alderton, Price; Hayes, Hume, Turner, Sayers, Morris, Stevenson, Falvey, Lemiere. Replacements - Davies, Mitchell, Trude.