The cup run continued for The Hammers on an awful afternoon weatherwise down at Fortress Hurlingham. Although how the run is continuing is a bit of mystery after a frightfully close, and maybe not altogether deserved victory over a visiting London Cornish side.

Cornish were always going to be tough opposition, lying in a similar position to HFRFC in the equivalent London South West league, but The Hammers chalked one up for the North of the River types with a three tries to two victory.

The Hammers were playing with a strong wind at there backs in the first half and were looking to capitalise on this. However it was actually Cornish that drew first blood. A little chip over the top in to the Hammers 22 game the Cornishmen something to chase. The kick was fielded by Ali ‘Little Fella’ Lines, but in the process of trying to launch a return kick downfield, he was charged down. This was not a good return for the Little Fella, as that was two weeks in succession that a poor kick had led directly to an opposition score.

Rallied by this early mistake the Hammers pressed on up field using the wind. A line out, 10 metres from the Cornish line was well taken in the middle by James ‘City Break’ Leach and the platform was set. A good drive that had to be reset several times before reaching the line was underway. As the line approached Pete ‘Old Skool’ Lacey manoeuvred himself into position at the back of the maul. Some said he was only just getting to the maul after making his way from the front of the lineout, a journey of about 8 metres, others said it was classic piece of Neil Back goal hanging, others still said he got caught by the wind from behind and couldn’t avoid joining the maul, whichever was true, Pete rolled back the decades and pounced for the try when the timing was right much to the delight of the large crowd.

The score seemed to galvanise the visitors and they were soon down in the Hammers half again.  A missed tackle cost the LNW3 outfit dear as the Cornish centre went over. However the conversion was missed and the Hammers managed to pop over a penalty just before half time. Unusually it was Brett ‘don’t make me kick it’ Stuart that was shooting the goals. Every time he was made to have a pop at the posts you could see the pain on his face as it was against everything he had been taught as a young lad back home in NZ. We wont put him through that again.

Against the wind in the second half the Hammers had to knuckle down and keep hold of the ball. Sean ‘My Little Pony’ Omalley was back in the side at 10 following a self imposed exile since the kiwi’s early exit from the word cup and he was pulling the strings well. Apparantly Dan Carter has since been on the phone to our pony tailed import seeking advice on decision making in the 10 shirt. As an aside, it seems odd that the Aussies have resorted to hiring a New Zealand coach for their rugby team following their own hasty departure from the world cup. You would have thought if they wanted to taste success again they would be better off employing the services of English coach. Oh well.

A reward for their hard graft was just around the corner for the Hammers when, following another line out catch and drive Brian ‘New in London 2008*’ Vanniman was driven over. (* Nickname reserved for all internet dating sites). This made it 15 -16 to Cornish.

In the second half try as the Cornishmen might they could never really get into the right areas of the field to score more points. Their second half rewards being a solitary penalty. This probably had something to do with playing 50 minutes of the game with only 14 men as they lost 3 players to the sin bin at various stages.

The second half continued with more Lacey highlights for the crowd. During one rolling maul with the visitors moving forward at a steady pace, Pete managed to get himself stuck on his knees at the back of the Hammers counter maul. However rather than just stand up, or let the maul move over him and probably concede a penalty for bringing it down, Pete spent a good minute and 10 metres shuffling backwards on his knees with a panicked expression on his face. It looked a bit like a midget trying to moonwalk.

With that sideshow out of the way the Hammers set about trying to win the game. They were 19 – 15 down with about 15 minutes to go. The weather had improved somewhat as the afternoon wore on but it was never going to be a day for flinging it around. Hammersmith again got themselves into striking distance and set up a rolling maul. This time, with the maul stationary and everybody thinking about what to do next, Mark Blyghton shot out from the back of the maul like a scouser running from a security guard and dived over. This took everyone by surprise including the referee as he found himself on the wrong side of the maul before he took plenty of time before correctly awarding the score to prolific front row man making it 20 -19 to the Hammers.

Hammersmith then had to dig in for the last 10 minutes or so. The game was coming to its conclusion when an altercation started on the changing room side of the pitch between the Cornish full back and Ali ‘New Anger Management’ Lines. Handbags were being drawn before big Chris ‘The Enforcer’ Cuthbertson stepped in to diffuse the situation in front of the on looking Middlesex RFU president. A wise move indeed.

Hammersmith did not play dazzling rugby by any stretch with all three tries coming by way of rolling mauls but that is what the conditions dictated. So Hammersmith moved in the fifth round of the Cup still dreaming of that Twickenham appearance and I’m sure slightly better playing conditions. A home tie against Gravesend on 12^th Jan being their reward.

Man of the Match: Mark Blyghton. A solid game from the solid man of Hammersmith rugby.

Tin Man: Ali Lines. Another 5 points gifted on a plate to the oppo through poor footballing skills.

Tries: Lacey, Vanniman, Blyghton.

Team: Lacey, Dray, Blyghton, Hetherington, Neilson, Anderson, Dilley, Vanniman, Lines, O’Malley, Olutayu, Stuart, Ringhsall, Matthew, Heyman. Davies, Fitzsimmons, Paddison, O’Sullivan.

The Scribe