Letchworth 17 Bedford Athletic 42

So to the opening day of National League Rugby at Legends Lane, which did not go quite to plan.

The extreme conditions in terms of playing rugby in temperatures exceeding ninety degrees farenheit did little to help both sides but it must be said the Athletic adapted far better to conditions and came out of the blocs running maybe showing their superior experience at this level plus a rocket from their coach for a substandard display at home on the opening day of the season .

As a well versed spectator of great rugby knowledge put it …… The result was not really a truly accurate reflection of the game but they were sharper , quicker and made fewer unforced errors ….not at our best by any means but the opposition were challenging in pace, reaction and accuracy ….. two great years of promotion to reach this level … now is the time to adapt , box clever and put todays first 40 minutes behind us ! At least the large crowd enjoyed the sunshine , a splendid lunch and contributed over £800 to the MND charity for Hertfordshire so not all was on the debit side for Letchworth .

The first half was really one that the Letchworth faithful would prefer to forget although it certainly gave flyhalf Sharp some restart practice . Bedford were eager clinical and dynamic and though Letchworth had a fair amount of possession they made little inroads .The visitors went forward too often the home side crabbed .

An early penalty was followed by a good try by Athletic

Sharp replied with a penalty after a brilliant bit of deft passing by Titherington in the centre in one of Letchworths best periods of possession in the first half

Letchworth certainly tried hard in the sapping heat, but unfortunately their opponents were harder and swifter runners and three tries followed with far too much space being given to dangerous runners before the halftime whistle.

One could say fair play to the Ath who provided some really entertaining rugby but there was some very poor tackling on the part of their home opponents.We simply were not at the races ! At half-time, the score was 29/3 to the visitors and the crowd was fairly stunned after the glories of the past few seasons.

However they kept the faith and the second half was a lot closer though the damage had been done . Whereas last year when Legends started badly they had the grit to overturn their opponents lead …. This year it will not be as easy .

Letchworth turned round with slope and wind or in these conditions a Saharan breeze !

It was a great start for Legends as both forwards and backs combined to work the ball down to the BALDOCK end and Jack Askham went over to score with Sharp adding the necessaries .

This stung the Ath back into action and as they broke down the flank a great reverse pass by the winger saw their centre under the posts for seven points .Another well struck penalty by the visitors fly half made it 39/10 .

At last Letchworth gained decent possession and the backs made good ground . Unfortunately as he released the ball Titherington received a high and late tackle to the head which resulted in a red card for the Ath player and the end of the game for the skilful Letchworth centre . No malice intended as hands were shaken .

Unfortunately Letchworth then conceded a further penalty and Bedfords accurate fly half made no mistake .

But this was the visitors last score as a further penalty was pushed wide

Legends never gave up and attacked desperately . Following several phases of good possession a charge from Mongston under the posts saw the ball pop up to Harvey Howman who ferreted through for Letchworths second try . As they chased the game mistakes were made and frustration built . Certainly understandable in this exceptional heat and hardness of ground . Indeed it was an extremely entertaining game for the crowd and a credit to both sides . Although Letchworth failed to score again they can be reasonably happy that the second half score was 14/13 in their favour

Let's move on to next week and learn lessons from todays encounter … As coach Baz Basra said in awarding the man of the match to plucky hooker Tim Hughes …. Welcome to National Three lads !!

And as the old Jethro Tull song goes "Nothing is Easy" but the season itself is a long song and we are sure this team will had a few high notes of their own before the final chorus.

Team from 1

Robinson , Hughes T , Wilkinson

Wilcock , Walker

Peasnell Askham Lewis

Howman Sharp

Parkhouse Mongston Titherington Sullivan Warner. , Gibbs

Subs

Hughes R Stokes Ansell