Once again the Stags gave a good account of themselves and at half- time - with Hertford who most recently had seen off league leaders London Irish at home holding only a slender 11-13 lead - all outcomes were in theory possible.

It was very much “in theory” though as – grittily as the Stags had played - the same old fault lines were undoubtedly showing.

Each side had registered an early penalty with Hertford then the first to draw serious blood with slick passing yielding a try for them in the corner after 12 minutes which was converted despite the awkward wind which largely favoured CS at that time. CS responded well with an unconverted try from No 8, Matt Gibson and with a quarter of the match gone they took a just about deserved 11-10 lead when debutant fly-half Will Magie knocked over his second penalty.

A Hertford penalty late into the half saw them edge ahead but it was clearly going to be an uphill - and more significantly also an against the wind - task for CS who were also now temporarily playing a man short. Scrum-half, Anthony Lavea, had been penalised for kicking the ball out of a Hertford scrum and that was clearly an area where Hertford would be hoping to turn the screw although the Stags’ Norseman was doing his level best at damage limitation.

It was scrum pressure though that brought Hertford their next score and when, not long after Lavea’s return, CS again lost a man to the bin, this was now looking like a game with only one winner. Hertford’s pack and No 8 repeated the dose on 60 minutes and that was now indeed game over. Hertford went on to secure their four try bonus point try and CS, for their part, kept going too and a try by Lavea with just minutes left brought the losing margin back down but it would have needed another to bring any real dividend and that was not to be.

The next game for the Stags against Amersham & Chiltern away assumes quite some importance.

CS Rugby 1863 scorers:

Tries:

Gibson
Lavea

Con:

Magie

Pens :

Magie (2)