Hemel first XV had to play two games this weekend the first of which secured home territory for promotion play off on the 27th April and the second saw them progress into the semi- final of the Hertfordshire presidents cup.
Saturday Hemel travelled away to Chiswick with the goal of securing home advantage for the playoff final. Chiswick who have been on a rich vein of form during the latter part of the season would be a tough test for this young Hemel side and so it proved. With the Sunday game in the back of some of the players’ minds it was a disjointed performance which wasn’t helped by poor weather conditions.
Hemel opened the game well and dominated the early exchanges only to go behind to a Chiswick try which they were unable to convert.
The response from Hemel was almost immediate as once again they drove into the Chiswick half and the only thing that the Home side could do was to commit a penalty which Daniel O’brien slotted between the up rights to close the gap to 5-3. This was followed with a period of attack and counter attack which saw neither side being able to find the crucial finish.
That was until one of Hemel’s outstanding players Nino Massa crashed through the Chiswick defence after a sustained period of pressure, O’Brien added the extras which put Hemel in the lead which they would never relinquish the half finished 5-10.
Hemel Started the second half as the finished the first on the front foot and after continued killing of the ball Chiswick had a man in the bin. The ensuing penalty saw O’Brien convert the penalty to extend the Hemel Lead to 5-13.
Chiswick were don’t with the game yet and with a full complement of players on the park scored their second try to close the arrears to just 3 points taking the scores to 10-13. The game was very tight Hemel were making most of the territory tell and Chiswick were making more mistakes with little or no time left Chiswick were once again reduced to 14 men as the same player was sent from the field for handling the ball in the ruck.
Woodard converted the penalty and extended the lead to 10-16 which proved to be enough for an important away victory.
If the Saturday game was tight the Sunday game was not, Hemel entertained Stevenage at Chaulden Lane and thrashed them 90-10. This one sided affair Saw 14 tries run in from the Hemel outfit which saw Carl Buckingham cross the white wash 5 times , Nick Merrett 3, Aled Gamble and Connor Flannery 2 a piece, with Richard Woodard and Charlie Richards weighing in with one each.
Hemels focus will now be clearly on the Playoff game against either Woodford or Ipswich on the 27th April and should they win would see the Chaulden Lane club achieve its highest ever playing level since the leagues were introduced.