Hackney RFC suffer Verulmians 16-10 defeat

Hackney suffered a disappointing loss as fourth placed Verulamians put in a strong second half performance to deny the Griffins.

From the kick off captain Charlie Davis offloaded to the onrushing Adam Winchester who drive forward. Quick ball was won and Hackney worked through four high quality phases, orchestrated by fly half Alex O’Hara with great hands and at pace.

From quick ball, O’Hara spotted a chink in the Verulamians’ defence and broke; returning open side flanker Ben Chamberlain was there in support to outpace the remaining defenders and score under the posts.

Verulamians came back strong and eventually the pressure lead to points, as a penalty was converted to make it 7-3, but Hackney came back and won a penalty of their own.

Soon after, Hackney were in trouble again as Chamberlain was sin-binned for an indiscretion.

The Griffins were now really up against it going into half-time, but the defence held firm to leave the score at 7-3 at the break.

The second half was a frustrating affair for Hackney.There were moments of brightness - a Hardwick penalty extended the lead to 10-3 but Verulamians came back into the game and scored an excellent try in the corner off a well executed first phase move to make it 10-8.

Verulamians had the Griffins on the rack and again sscored in the corner; it went unconverted but that was 13-10 and Hackney were now behind for the first time in the game.

Hackney pushed hard but a penalty allowed V’s to stretch their lead to 16-10.