Colts

Chingford 0 - 39 Shelford

 Shelford Colts got the season off to a good start with a good win over Chingford in the National Cup. After 10 minutes Shelford’s pack got the measure of Chingford’s big forwards and started to supply quick ball for the backs to run at Chingford. This soon started to pay off with Ben Seymour finishing off a fine back move which he converted. Then it was Jon Caller’s turn to catch a high ball and return it for a try under the posts which Seymour once again converted. Just before the break Matt Caller finished in the corner after some fine running from the backs. After the break it was Jon Caller on the end of a fine move to score. Then it was the forward’s turn to get in on the act with a try from Harry Robbins after some good flowing rugby from the forwards. Then Matt Caller got a brace of tries both set up by his brother just to finish off the game.

Under 17's

Hertford 20 Shelford 15

Shelford won the toss and decided to play with the brisk breeze at their backs. However Shelford were never able to gain any continuity with a string of penalties against Shelford. Shelford did engineer two openings for firstly Tom Ward to finish off a flowing counter attack with a try out wide and just before half time Edward Lockton rounding his winger to also score out wide, Ward was wide with both conversion attempts. At 10-0 to Shelford at half time the second half was going to be hard with the wind to cope with. Shelford should have been a good enough team to overcome a variety of problems, and they nearly did this after they went behind 12-10 they produced a fantastic counter attack for Tristan Tegg to score under the posts. The conversion was thwarted by an early charge.With the score at 15-12, Hertford levelled with another penalty and won the match scoring a late, late try.

Under 16's

Shelford 0 Hertford 19

In a close first half, Shelford's forwards showed brief periods of dominance, especially in the line out, with several players in new positions. Turning round after no side had scored, it initially appeared that Shelford would go on to grasp the points, however, good set piece ball seemed a rarity and it was the visitors who romped home with three tries and two conversions, a scoreline that didn’t reflect the hosts efforts.

Under 15's

Hertford 33 Shelford 19

Shelford U15 were 6 points down in the first quarter. They confidently fought their way back with their first try scored by Harry Norman and converted by Sam Norcross, and then Alex Poirier from a penalty put the ball down in the bottom corner. Shelford were now well into the game and were applying pressure to the Hertford pack.  Alex Poirier scored his second try and Harry Norman followed with his second of the game. In the final quarter Hertford ran and attached and scored two final tries to convincingly win the game.

Under 14's

Shelford 5 Hertford 55

Shelford kicked off the season in subdued fashion against a skilful Hertford team. Hertford took advantage of the wind at their backs in the first period, and soon started kicking for territory, whilst their forwards gave their backs a platform to work from which resulted in three early tries to leave Shelford reeling at 0-19. After this initial period Shelford became more competitive, but the forwards were always second best at the scrums & in particular the rucks, where despite the ball presentation being good, and the initial body angles being OK, there was then no ‘leg drive’ to push the opposition off their own ball to protect the possession. Hertford’s backs started to grow in confidence as their forwards were winning a stream of possession for them to show off their fine running skills, and two further tries before half time left the score at 0-29.