Last years league winners traveled to Hertford today and with one victory each last season it was always going to be a tight game. The horse started the first half well and spent the first 5 minutes camped in the Chesham half. They got the first try of the game not long after, Rob Scrimshaw took a quick penalty and then preceded to run around 5 players to score himself. Richard Hope converted to put the horse 7-0 up. The horse continued the pressure straight from the kick off and Richard Hope was unlucky not to get on the scoreboard after a long run, unfortunately though injuring himself in the process.
It took Chesham 15 minutes to get in to the Black Horse half but the Black Horse defended well. Chesham knew that if they got the ball out wide they could cause the Horse problems and the first time they did they should have had a try, the ball passed forward to the winger. They did however get their first try of the day soon after. After camping themselves in the Horse 22 and numerous penalties, their prop took a quick one to make the score 7-5. The Horse rallied and came straight back at Chesham. The ball was stolen a couple of times in the middle of the pitch by both sides but Mark Livesey came out with the ball. He kicked the ball over the top and chased it down, one more kick and a hand on the ball saw the Horse regain the lead, 12-5.
The second half started with another injury substitution for Black Horse, as Rob Scrimshaw had to come off with slight concussion. The shift around of players seemed to affect the Black Horse, as Chesham pushed forward, shipped the ball out wide and got the try to level the scoreline. The Horse kicked off and almost immediately gave away a penalty in the Chesham half. This was taken quickly and the player ran in a try from his own half, to put Chesham in the lead, 19-12, for the first time in the game. What Chesham could do, the Horse could match. It was Mark Livesey this time who took a penalty in his own half and after some powerful running scored his second try of the game to leave the score poised at 17-19.
After a fairly even first ten minutes the next twenty were all Cheshams, with 3 tries scored. The first saw the strong pack of Chesham push the Horse over the line from 5ms. The second saw both Matt Rogers and Chris Powell call a mark before they'd caught the ball, causing them both to the drop the ball and a Chesham player to swoop it up and score a try. The third try came from another quick penalty taken from their own half to leave the score 17-40 with ten minutes remaining. The Horse restored some pride and spent the last ten camped in the Chesham 22. The fourth penalty from 5m saw the referee award a penalty try and Adrian Lee converted to leave the final score 24-40.

MOM - Chris Ellmore
WOM - Michael Fignon