Honours Even

Words from John Skinny Portway:

With our Illustrious leader Simon Bram away on parenting Duties (happy birthday little man ) and a few injuries and unforseen, mid season, unauthorised holidays in place it was still a strong squad who pulled on the Watford RFC jersey.
From the 1st whistle it was an arm wrestle between the two packs with big carries and defence from both sides. Watford’s defensive game plan has been strong this season and with a powerful carrying game from all involved Watford took the game to Old Millhillians and were unlucky not to get on the scoreboard early.
It was in fact Watford who were undone early when we disconnected for a split second and Millhillians pacey winger cut through for a good try. Conversion successful the score was 0:7 to the away team. Not long after this Tathan Williams was tackled in the air by the millhillians winger and he was shown a yellow along with Josh Wilkinson who was asked to have a 10 minute breather after a rush of blood trying to defend his teamate.
This seemed to stir Watford into action. Sam Holloway making yards again and again with his scattergun handoff and Tibault and Chris Routley harrying hard and strong through the guts of the millhillians pack. After a long spell moving gradually towards the try line with our destructive chaos ball it was, as it has often been this season Adam Hancock who drove over for our first try. With our conversion slotted it was 7:7 going into the second half and Watford felt we were in control.
The second half kicked off and Watford were vindicated in their thought as we shot out of the blocks. Josh Wilkinson with his trademark destructive runs and Jack Upton with his out and outpace were fed well by Keelan Tullet and Tom Mcgee who were controlling the game well as the stand-off partnership. One such move resulted in Keelan Tullet putting Paul Dunlop through an invisible gap to score a deserved try after his enthusiasm and hard work all game. Conversion slotted Watford were ahead and looked in control.
Unfortunately one brief communication issue and our exit ball was not operated as it has been all season. An unlucky bounce for Jack Upton left their winger with a lucky run in and with the kick added the scores were again level.
In previous seasons this may have been the undoing of Watford, however not this season and spurred on by superb link play by Georgio and Captain on the pitch Luke Hamill and the gaps found by a rejuvenated Tom Gordon and fresh on the pitch Liam Meredith Watford looked to retake the lead.
Watfords concern reappeared however when we not only lost Tathan Williams to injury, who had been putting his body on the line all game and was a safe pair of hands, but also because we gave away what seemed like an innocuous penalty and suddenly Watford were behind again. However heads were not down and lead from the front by Hammill once again we delved deep into the oppositions 22 with all 15 Watford players showing heart and determination to get over the tackle line and cause damage.
The pressure soon told and Millhillians gave a away a penalty in front of the posts. This was promptly kicked by Scotty Menzies and with the scores tied it was time to go to work. Go to work we certainly did and it was only through an illegal high tackle that Tom Gordon was stopped from scoring what was a certain try. Another yellow card was issued however the referee did not see this as a penalty try and Watford could not force our way over the line. Final score 17-17