Late report due to technical issues but in their penultimate home game of the season, Tring faced a struggling Medway side on Saturday, looking to turn around their own recent poor form. With the backline unchanged from the previous week, there were returns for George Carter, George Hayes and Guy Fountaine in the forward pack. Nick Brown continued as match-day captain. It was a chilly but dry day at Cow Lane as the two sides ran out in-front of the ever-faithful home supporters.

Straight from the kick off, Medway had Tring pinned in their own half. This would ultimately end in a 3-0 lead for the visitors after a penalty goal. 5 minutes later, Tring hit back with the first try of the afternoon. An excellently worked line out drill led to a fast exchange between Oliver Green and Hayes, who crashed over the line (5-3). The two teams exchanged penalty kicks soon after (8-6). With a battle for possession raging, there was some excellent defence from both sides. After a poor clearing kick from Tring and an extremely dubious looking pass from the visitors in the lead up, Medway scored again to re-take the lead (8-15). Fly-half ben Hogan converted a penalty goal soon after to narrow the deficit (11-15). 3 minutes later, Tring were back in the lead.

A poorly executed backs move by Medway gave centre Ted Stanford the opportunity to fly-hack through into the visitor’s 22m. He collected his own kick to score (16-15). Tring looked to use this momentum to solidify their lead. A great carry from winger Charlie Goss-Lambourne saw Tring enter the Medway 22m once again. The forwards went to work carrying hard into the visitor’s defence until the ball was passed wide, finding Jake Olley, who crossed for his first try since returning to the side (23-15). However, with the last play of the half, poor handling in the Tring midfield gave Medway another score (23-22).

The first 20 minutes of the second half was extremely cagey. Neither team could break the other down until a Tring penalty for not releasing was awarded. Medway converted to re-take the lead (23-25). The home side’s discipline began to let them down as Medway continued to put pressure on them in the 22m. The visitors would end up scoring again from a line out move with 10 minutes remaining (23-32). Hogan would kick another penalty goal, but Medway replied with another of their own (26-35). Despite a late rally from the Tring attack, the hosts were unable to register another score as Medway ran out 26-35 winners.

Tring faced Hertford away in a huge derby match on Saturday (match report to come), with the men in black looking to complete a historic league double.

Final score: Tring 26-35 Medway

Tries: Hayes; Stanford; Olley
Cons: Hogan
Pens: Hogan (3)