Hungerford on the road to success

Hungerford RFC began their new Counties 2 Tribute BBO South season with a hard-fought 13-18 win at Slough.

Hungerford made a fast start, despite a difficult pre-season that was disrupted due to late cancellations and ground conditions.

Underneath a sharp rain shower, the two sides appeared well-matched but Hungerford drew first blood with a penalty following an excellent territory kick from full-back Harry Greenwood.

A Slough kick soon levelled the scores before Callum Hambrecht was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes after a crunching tackle.

Soon after, the home side made the extra man pay and touched down for the first converted try of the afternoon, 10-3.

Hungerford grew into the game, impressing at both the scrum and lineout, and were rewarded when Greenwood finished off a neat move that began in the visitors’ own half to reduce the arrears to 10-8.

Slough extended their lead with another penalty in the second half, 13-8, before Hungerford’s Josh Pearce thought he’d drawn his side level, only for the referee to rule it out.

Hungerford scrum-half Henry Mills’ kicked a drop goal to reduce the deficit to just two, 13-11, and the visitors had the lead when Gareth Morgan touched down after great work from Hambrecht, 13-18.

Hungerford held on for an excellent first win of the campaign, and head coach Steve Allan praised his side’s “energy and commitment”.

"Every player did their job for the 80 minutes," he said.