Sat 9 Oct 2021
Hungerford made six changes in the team that took on Tadley last week and welcomed back a couple of their former Colts Henry Sandys - Lumsdaine and Matt Rhodes for their first game of the season against a strong Abingdon side.
The early exchanges saw both sides look to entertain with the ball being swung from side to side, however the defences remained strong.Hungerford lost their young big second row Toby Gale early in the game which caused a re-shuffle of the pack with skipper Dan Holley making a longed for appearance at No. 8.
Following a good Abingdon drive upfield the ball was turned over and Tom Smithdale, the Hungerford fly half took advantage and moved the ball wide to Scott Kay who gave a crisp pass onto Will Owens, Will mad good ground upfield and threw what looked liked a try scoring pass to Harley Bloomfield on the left wing on the Abingdon 22m line, unfortunately, the Abingdon centre leapt for the high ball, gathered it and wrongfooted the Hungerford defence as he sprinted clear of the cover to touch down.
The try seemed to lift Abingdon and they went on to play their best rugby of the game up to half time and added a second try courtesy of some neat evasive running by the Abingdon centre and kicked 2 penalties.
The second half saw Hungerford have the greater share of possession and the returning Henry Sandys Lunsdaine coming more Hungerford played the majority of the game in the Abingdon half. After some quick handling from Nick Blair at 9 , Ashley Stokes worked his way free only to be stripped of the ball as he was diving for the try.Hungerford continued with their forays into the Abingdon 22 but the Abingdon defence held up well.
A long clearance out of defence by Abingdon resulted in a lineout on the Hungerford 22 from which thier flanked expertly gathererd the ball at the tail and scooted over fo their third and final try.
Hungerford despite all the changes and early loss of Toby Gale competed well and the scoreline could quite easily been a lost closer, however, the team spirit was excellent and will hold them in good stead for the up and coming fixtures.
Hungerford's Man of the Match was Henry Sandys-Lumsdaine
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