It Rains and it pours but Harpenden win local derby
Possibly against the run of play, within 10 minutes Harpenden opened the scoring with a penalty from centre Aaron Wilde. This made up for an earlier miss at goal. A further penalty award three minutes later – from, in the circumstances, an optimistic distance of 40 metres – was also unsuccessful. So, too, was a strange decision by the Harpenden player who attempted a drop kick into the wind from almost 45 metres out! Was he on drugs the crowd was asking?
With the wind behind them from the kick off, St Albans had used the elements to their advantage by drilling the right-hand touch, and catching Harpenden out of position more than once, on a day that seemed totally unsuited to a running game. Nevertheless, credit must go to both teams who tried their best to fling the ball about whenever they could. Eventually, they discovered the limitations of such a game plan as the continuous rain made handling an unwelcome challenge.
Twenty minutes later in a contest riddled with missed chances, St Albans applauded fly half Mark Kentish’s penalty kick that brought the sides level; it was at this stage that the home side’s pack was beginning to exert itself and Harpenden were probably lucky to still be on level terms. Kentish then put the supporters into an even happier frame of mind with a fine exhibition of raw speed as he chased down the left wing, following a kick ahead, to touch the ball down with elan. It looked as if St Albans were now in the driving seat but two penalties later from Aaron Wilde – one of which was taken from just inside the St Albans 10 metre line – meant that the sides turned round at half time with Harpenden again in the lead, this time by 9 to 8.
Not much changed after the restart: though Harpenden now had the wind behind them: unlike St Albans , they did not have the tactical nous to use the elements in a beneficial manner. Accordingly, the home side was able to snuff out any threat to their line and a second penalty from Kentish - a very good kick in the circumstances – saw the game swing the way of the home team leaving Harpenden now trailing by 11 to 8.
The visitors’ nerves were further tested when Harpenden’s ‘Stitch’ Payne was shown a yellow card for an offence he apparently didn’t commit (the referee from Devon had, unsurprisingly misunderstood something Stitch had said to a team mate). So now it was ‘backs to the wall time’ and Harpenden’s character was tested to the full. But, with a few minutes remaining, and back to fifteen men, Harpenden’s fly half, Joe Tennant, optimistically hoofed the ball high into the air near the St Albans 22 metre line. Centre Aaron Wilde gave chase, got hold of the kick as it fell to ground and scored under the posts. He converted his own try and soon afterwards the whistle was blown for full time. Despite the appalling weather, it was a fitting end to a well-fought local derby.
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