Sat 8 Feb 2020
Hendon clinch an historic away victory taking them to the RFU London and South East Division Cup Final.
Canvey Island, riding high in the Essex League 1 and not having lost at home so far this season, showed their determination from the start keeping Hendon pinned in their own territory for the opening 10 mins before securing a penalty from a Hendon scrum infringement taking them into a 3-0 lead. Defence was key to the visitors to keep the heavier Canvey forwards in check and away from a scoring position and wait for the opportunity to outrun the home outfit. Hendon’s opportunity came midway through the period starting with captain Cian Hynes kicking a long penalty from defence to gain a lineout, secured by Rossa Dooley to Billy Burrell making a blindside run to No8 Ronan Jones, shaking off two defenders to score Hendon’s first points with Hynes converting to take a 3-7 lead. Hendon now gained the advantage of seeing a way through a team that were strong up front but could be challenged beyond. Only 5 mins later, Canvey again won an attacking scrum but their scrum half and No10 were both stopped by the Hendon backrow of Donal O’Sullivan, Mike Culhane and Dooley with the ball going loose and Culhane securing for another Hendon backline move by Toby Ikwueke to Chris Kiyingi to again break through the Canvey defence to score a try with Hynes converting and Hendon were now 3-14 ahead going into half- time.
Could Hendon maintain their lead into the 2nd period as the game was far from being won and now Canvey had worked out how to take on the visitors by keeping the ball tight with their forwards? The answer soon came as Hendon’s star player JT Moncher, returning from injury, put in some great defensive tackles giving his backline colleague Will Theaker a run at the Canvey defence, who conceded a penalty and Hynes duly converted for Hendon to stretch their lead to 3-17 on 20 mins. Canvey now threw everything into attack with Hendon now defending their try line and in the process two forwards were yellow carded for 10 mins for technical offences with Canvey being awarded a penalty try and an automatic 7pts to close in on Hendon at 10 -17 ; Hendon now had to hang on from the restart with only 13 players and 15 mins still to play.
Hynes played the tactics from the restart with a long kick to touch. Culhane won the lineout to scrum half Burrell to Theaker on the wing to set up a maul 5 metres from the Canvey line with replacement prop Mantas Urbonavicius, making his 1st team debut crashed through to score out wide and Hendon without a full side went ahead 10-22. Soon back to 15 players, Hendon were the stronger and fitter outfit to finish off the match with a well deserved win and a place in the final against Kent Club Cranbrook on March 14th, venue to be decided. Hendon coach Phil Smith praised the whole team for their magnificent performance and ability to stick with the game plan set up at their weekly training session at Saracens Allianz Park, with special mention to the resolute defence and ability to turn defence into a positive attack from anywhere on the field to gain the Hendon victory.
