Pinner's penalty woe helps Hatfield strengthen position

Pinner & Grammarians 13 Hatfield 16

Pinner were left to rue their lack of discipline as Herts/Middlesex 4 leaders Hatfield just about maintainted their unbeaten record at Hatch End.

Trailing 10-3 at the break, second placed Pinner made their task even tougher by conceding two second half penalties which Hatfield converted to take control. However, a late flurry of Pinner tries in the last 15 minutes reduced the gap to just three points, although they could have edged into the lead had they converted both scores.

Pinner, confident after their 24-3 win over Sudbury & London Springboks, took an early lead via the boot of fly-half Adrian Boue after Hatfield failed to release the ball. However, the leaders soon moved ahead when centre Owen Doyle crossed the whitewash from a line-out. He converted his own score for 3-7.

Grammarians enjoyed the lion's share of possession for the remainder of the half but their penchant for killing rucks resulted in a foward sent to the sin bin and another straight forward penalty for Doyle to nail. Both defences came out on top in the early stages of the second half before Pinner coughed up two more penalties to hand their opponents the momentum.

However, Pinner rallied and skipper Reza Sibilant barged over from close range to reduce the gap to eight points. That was soon cut to three when lock Mike Turner clattered his way over the try line but both conversions drifted wide and Pinner's chance of victory had gone.

* Adam Thetheway's try, converted by Harrison Davies, was enough to earn Pinner U12s a 7-5 triumph over Hackney Bulls at Shaftesbury Playing Fields recently. However, Hackney got revenge by winning the second match 5-0.

Pinner U10s beat their counterparts 2-0 in the first match only to lose by the same score in the second. Honours ended even at 3-3 in the third and final clash, Pinner's try scorers were Gabrial Skilton-Hood, Ben Stone and Jacob Talbot. A mixed side comprising of Pinner's U7s and U8s play-ers won their game 8-6.

Several players were rewarded for their performances. They were Bradley Smith and Liam O'Riordan (U12s), Skilton-Hood (U10s) and Ibrahim Kharshid (U7s/8s).