Round 10 Huddersfield Underbank Rangers vs Hemel Stags :
Huddersfield Underbank Rangers 72 Hemel Stags 6
Rampant Rangers moved into fifth spot in the table with a dominating 13 try rout of their out-gunned opponents.
From the first minute, Underbank dominated both possession and territory to totally overwhelm the Stags and seem to be hitting play off form at the right time.
Hemel committed far too many errors to be competitive and the tone was set early as Rangers capitalised on one of many dropped balls by the visitors as Matt Stewart, John Birt and Darren Hawkyard combined to send young prop Ross White crashing over in the fifth minute.
Seemingly evergreen Paul Lord converted, the first of eight successful kicks for the wily campaigner.
The lead doubled soon after as Stewart offloaded superbly in the tackle to the supporting Lord who handed on to Matt Lodge for the score.
Stewart then repeated his offloading act to Birt who fed the ball to Matt Garside who chipped ahead, the retreating Christian Champion who failed to gather the bouncing ball and alert Chris Beal picked up it up to cross between the posts.
As the conditions started to worsen both sides found the ball difficult to control and the game became scrappy for a period.
Rangers continued to dominate but just before the break Hemel gave themselves a life line when centre Ross Willoughby made a superb break from his own quarter, dashed 40 metres and handed on to the supporting Kane Phillips for a tremendous touch down.
Barry Jon Swindells added the extras for the only joy Hemel would experience on a tough day for the Hertfordshire team.
Glorious sunshine and a dry ball greeted the teams at the start of the second half and Rangers took full advantage of the improved conditions.
Hemel were guilty of losing the ball in their own quarter in the first set and powerful centre Beal broke the defensive line to hand on to the trailing Hawkyard for the game breaking try.
Hemel’s cause was not helped by the sin binning of halfback Blake Kirby for dissent, and while he was absent from the field, Hawkyard added his second after good work from Tom Senior.
Replacement Richard Flooks took full advantage of a superb Sam Dalby break to race over and seal the game.
Kirby returned but matters worsened for Hemel as a procession of tries at regular intervals in the last 20 minutes decimated their resistance.
Beal completed his brace with a superb 40 metre diagonal run, Lord crossed in similar fashion and Hawkyard completed his hat trick.
There were further touchdowns from Lee St Hilaire, a second for White, a first for the club for Arran Crabtree and the demolition was completed by Underbank’s best of the day from fleet-footed winger Will Midgley.
Flooks converted two of the scores while Lord had a well earned rest.
Hemel had some late pressure as a result of Garside’s unprovoked punch on Mark Coulson, but they could not grab a consolation score.
Tries: Phillips (40)
Goals: Swindells (1 from 1)
Hemel Man of the Match: Mark Coulson
Hemels Payers Player Award: