The Hammersmith bandwagon went on the road for the last time during the 07/08 season with a trip up to mid table Hampstead RFC. Hampstead had a score to settle after The Hammers narrowly edged them out at Fortress Hurlingham earlier in the season.

The Hammers needed to win to keep the pressure on Imperial Medicals for the second place play off space, with the gap still at two points.

As this was one of the nearest away games we had, the captain had decided that The Hammers should do their bit for carbon neutrality (and post match revelry) and get the tube up to Hampstead rather than travel in their usual car convoy. Unfortunately this decision back fired when, even after a set of very simple directions had been sent out to the squad, Barry ‘Wine’ O’Sullivan decided he knew a shorter route and sent out his own directions. This move delayed most players that decided to follow the Irish vagabond’s directions, especially the Aussies.

After finally reaching the pitch after a long trek through Hampstead Heath, which John ‘Airsock’ Hetherington seemed to know like the back of his hand, and an even longer trek through the dead ball area the game got under way.

Hammersmith started the game like this was an away trip to Inverness not Hampstead and were very sluggish from the off. Second best in open play and conceding ball from both the line out and scrum it looked like this was going to be a tough afternoon. Playing with the wind in the first half didn’t seem to help the Hammers either. Soon the away team were 6 points down after penalties were conceded within range and the Hampstead kicker did the business. Worse was to come.

With The Hammers finally enjoying some ball, Sweaky Weeks slipped into the scrum half position on second phase and fed Ali Lines at fly half. The Little Fella fed Brett ‘Chippy’ Stuart who chucked an intercept pass towards big John Mowbray. The Hampstead fly half gobbled it up and set off towards the Hammersmith line. The cover defense was closing in with Jelly Wrestler Djikic and The Cat Olutayo making yards fast. The ball was then fed left and the Hampstead left winger crashed through The Cats tackle and over. Sly mentioned after he was more worried about getting his nice new boots dirty than making the try saver so we couldn’t really argue. 11 – 0 down. Another penalty followed to make it 14 – 0 at half time.

There were some pretty stern words at half time but the good news was the preceding 40 minutes was probably the flattest of the season so far so the visitors knew they had plenty more in the tank.

The second half was far more like the Hammers had been producing during the later stages of the season. Playing down the hill but against the wind The Hammers began to exert some pressure on Hampstead. A penalty was knocked over by Sweaky Weeks to get the Hammers on the board. Then, after some good work down the left by The Jelly Wrestler and The Gob Wotton, the ball was chucked back in field and Brett ‘Chippy’ Stuart dotted down. The kick was missed but The Hammers were getting back into the game. 14 – 8.

The forwards had wrestled parity back in the scrum and the line out was functioning better with new boy Nicholas ‘Stalker’ Kirkham calling the shots. There was plenty of chat coming in from the Hampstead boys and also their coach and our own John ‘The Tinkerman’ Porter-Griffiths. In the end the referee had to take the unprecedented step of asking both captains to ask their respective coaches to button up otherwise they would have to make the long walk back to the changing rooms. Oh dear oh dear. Even Wotton thought they were a bit vocal!

Tinkerman made a full house of changes bringing on Goggin for Hird who we thought was crying but it turned out had fractured his sinus (still not convinced), Rigney for ‘Once more’ Dilley and Rod ‘Phoenix’ Anderson for ‘Wine’ O’Sullivan. 

The changes had the desired impact and the match turning moment unfolded. After a line out on Hampstead 10 metre line the Hammers pack began an excellent rolling maul that made fully 30 metres. Just as it looked like the maul was coming down the ball was fed out to Mike ‘Oh Pat’ Reade who stepped inside his man to score. 14 – 13. It was a nice way for the quiet man from New Zealand to sign off his short but very successful stint at Hammersmith & Fulham. He would be welcomed back.

All that was left was for Sweaky Weeks to knock over the kick for the win. He duly did the honours and for the second time this season the Hammers had picked the pocket of Hampstead.

The last few minutes were played out rather frantically with Hampstead throwing everything they had at the visitors, Sly The Cat made a fantastic take from a high ball, which no one was expecting and John ‘The New City Break’ Mowbray, looking tanned after his mid season trip to Barcelona, had a try disallowed after he failed to ground the ball properly, which everybody was expecting.

This game completed a set of two big turn arounds in a row and showed that The Hammers know how to grind games out but frustratingly can’t put a solid 80 minutes together. Either way they were still on course to win their last 7 games, a target the team had set themselves after the Stevenage game, and potentially claim a play off spot. A fine achievement for the newly promoted team. 

Team: Blyghton, Dray, Hird, Kirkham, Leach, O’Sullivan, Dilley, Mowbray, Lines, Weeks, Djikic, Reade, Stuart, Olutayo, Wotton. Goggin, Anderson, Rigney.

Tries: Stuart, Reade

The Scribe