HAC 94 Norwich 0

The artillery pieces pointing towards the rugby pitch at The Honourable Artillery Company were a portent of what was to come, as a fully loaded HAC unleashed a barrage of fast, running and offloading rugby on Norwich’s injury ravaged side. 

It was a game that the visitors will quickly consign to the dusty recesses of their collective memory, but the scoreline was an accurate measure of the difference in class between the two teams.

For the first 15 minutes, Norwich competed hard, although for the most part they were defending. It became clear from an early stage that HAC had an offloading and support game that would not look out of place, several leagues higher.

Norwich made things harder for themselves by kicking poorly out of defence, kicking directly into touch or failing to make touch when intended. This just allowed HAC more ball to run back at them. Their pace and running lines opened up the Norwich defence seemingly at will.

The first score came on 15 minutes and the remainder of the game was mostly a case of rinse and repeat. 

Norwich didn’t lack heart or commitment but they often lacked the defensive organisation and the basic tackling skills to halt players running creative and hard lines at them. 

HAC’s fleet footed backs stepped left and right, avoiding contact and offloading just prior to the tackle, to a support runner that was always there on the shoulder. It was a rarity to have a ruck to contest, as they infrequently went to ground in contact, the ball had already gone. They had stretched out to a 42:0 lead by half time. 

The rout continued unabated in the second half. In the final quarter of the game, Norwich had some periods of possession in the HAC 22 but they lacked the pace, speed of handling or forward momentum to pierce the defence. It was all too lateral and predictable.   

Norwich have a week off to dust themselves down and reset before they head to Woodford with a more realistic chance of forcing a result.