Shelford fight back late on to chalk up victory from London & SE Regional 1SE to Harpenden

Shelford’s director of rugby Will Cotterill saw the good and the bad from his side during Saturday’s 29-27 victory at Harpenden.

The Peacocks started the contest in positive fashion but soon found themselves facing up to the prospect of defeat before a late rally earned them all five points.

Speaking to the club’s Twitter feed, Cotterill said: “Five points is as good as it gets. We started really well and that’s a Shelford curse!

“We came out and moved the ball really well, scored a try early and were kind of dominant in the first quarter of the game.

“But that’s kind of an Achilles’ heel to us because we switched off and credit to Harpenden, they owned the middle part of the game up to half-time and after it.

“For all money you thought that we were done here. We were dropping balls, we lost our shape, we lost our heads and we were losing our set piece – everything was going wrong.

“I was having flashbacks to Brentwood last year when we couldn’t get into gear but Harry (Rogerson) came off the bench and I thought he had an excellent game, added a lot of zip.

“We needed to get the tempo up and that’s what he does, he brings a lot of tempo and made a lovely line break through the middle.

“TJ (Tom James) stepped up in the last quarter and there was a few other guys as well. Jack Biard came on and added a bit of zip and leadership. He’s becoming a really good leader for a young player.

“Those kind of things were really important. There was lots of guys out there working hard, trying to make things happen but things just weren’t happening. Then all of a sudden two or three things worked and we were able to build momentum off that, get a score and get back into it.

“We got that last try, Crackers (Lewis Cracknell) made the conversion which isn’t easy in this wind and then we just hung on. They were pressuring the line, they got the penalty, they got the maul so credit to the boys.

“Winning is a habit and we got five points, but we’ve got a bit to do during the week.”

Shelford, who are third in the London & SE Regional 1SE standings, will host Bedford Athletic on Saturday (September 24).