08-07-2025
Head coach McNamee thrilled with Bill Beaumont Division 3 triumph
Head coach Brett McNamee hopes Hertfordshire can return to punching above their weight in rugby's County Championship after their Bill Beaumont Division 3 triumph against Leicestershire.
Herts ran out 29-10 winners at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, a venue where they were crowned county champions, with McNamee as captain, by beating Lancashire back in 2012.
They were finalists in the competition's top tier as recently as 2018 but have dropped down the standings in recent years, with players in the National Leagues no longer taking part.
A brighter future certainly looks to be on the horizon on the basis of their performance at the national stadium, with McNamee wanting that winning feeling to become a habit once more.
McNamee said: 'When you look at the clubs in Level 3 or Level 4, you've got Old Albanians and Bishop's Stortford and if you're not having the support with clubs and players releasing themselves, I get it – it's a long campaign for National One.
'When you look at accredited RFU clubs from different counties, we're punching above our weight, and we've always punched above our weight.
'We've proven we can compete in previous years, but this now is starting to bring something back and it's building a foundation.
'A team is built on trust and there's 23 players out there – we've had 40, collectively – that I would trust whole-heartedly.'
Hertfordshire were clinical in the first half as they built a 24-3 lead at the break, with centre Will Titherington scoring two tries and wing Kyle Lemon and fly-half Josh Sharp also crossing the whitewash.
Johno Wicks' score then killed off Leicestershire's attempts at a comeback before Herts had Luke Mongston sent off for a dangerous tackle, with his team-mates defending heroically in his absence.
Former Hertford head coach McNamee, whose side trained at Cheshunt RFC during the campaign, said: 'It was probably about 65 minutes of defence.
'We had five entries [into Leicestershire's 22] in the first half and four of them we scored from.
'We came alive on transition, that's our super strength, and you could see the game plan they were going for: they were looking to take it around the corner and be aggressive.
'They had that emotional energy for five or 10 minutes and we had to weather that storm, we did and then we showed how ruthless we are.
'It was clinical once we got into their 22 in the first half.'
