HAMMERS SQUEEZE OUT BELSIZE PARK 8 - 5

 

With both sides having 20 players for the match and Belsize Park having beaten our 4’s the weekend before in a friendly, it was time for a clash in the MMT 2.  The game kicked off with some good hard runs from both sides and a lot of kicking for territory.  The Belsize scrum initially struggled against the Hammers pack but this soon changed with a movement of players on their part.  After this, the rest of the day was hotly contested in the scrum with both sides wheeling and driving.  After 20 mins the Hammers managed to get a penalty just outside their 22.  With scrum half Nik ‘quiet man’ Dinning looking for guidance as to kick for touch or what, captain Adam ‘Stoney’ Stone looked at Kev ‘I’m still upset about the All Blacks’ O’Malley and said ‘can you kick it Kev?’  The response came as a ‘well, ahh, yeah, umm I think so’ to which Stoney replied by looking at the ref and pointing at the sticks.  Kev looked quite nervous as he took the kick as the last time Stoney asked him this question in a match Kev said ‘no worries’ only to have it go wide. (Possibly due to an over inflated ball, if it puts Wilkinson and friends off, well how is Kev going to cope?).  Any how, the kick went straight through the posts and finally a score had been made and the Hammers were up 3 – 0.

Scrums and lineouts continued to be hotly contested from both sides and the Hammersmith back row were put to work with Charlie ‘Inside this prop’s body is an 8’ Huntingdon picking up from number 8 and making many hard hitting runs in his last match for the club before returning to Australia.  Even Hammers old boy prop Paul ‘the cube’ Deane was seen taking some crash ball off the scrum half and making some inspirational runs in to the opposition, with the sun gleaming off his heavily sweating face.  Flankers Adam ‘low flying aircraft’ Hinton and Rory ‘think I’ll have a crack at back row’ Rigney were in overtime defending as the Belsize opposition stepped up the pace, running quick ball off the back of the scrum.

Another score eluded the Hammers with some spillages out wide and before the break, Belsize Park broke through the line to score off a chip kick of some description.  A call of ‘knock on’ by the Hammers back line was replied to by the ref with a ‘didn’t see it, play on’.  A good lesson to be learnt in playing the ref, not what you reckon you saw.  Belsize didn’t convert and we went in to the break with Belsize Park leading 5 – 3.  By this stage Kev ‘I’m still upset about the All Blacks’ O’Malley and Andre ‘half Aussie, half Saffa’ Greeff were in the blood bin after some heavy encounters out in the backs.

The second half saw some more good aggressive play across the field with the Hammers centre Wes ‘Grant Wesley’ Grant making some good hit ups and persistence eventually paid off when winger Guy Walding eventually broke through the Belsize defensive line to score and put the Hammers back in front at 8 – 5 (not converted).  The rest of the match continued with both sides desperately trying to score.  2 fresh flankers in Miloud ‘Allez le Bleus’ Bensaada and Alex ‘I’d like to muck in’ Holding-Parsons continued the assault on the opposition back row, 9 and 10.  A few giggles on both sides were had when Alex was penalised for crawling along the ground with the ball in hand and about 3 Belsize Park players riding on his back.  Finally the whistle blew and it was all over.

We retired to the Belsize Park club pub where they put on some beers and food for us and were excellent hosts.

Man of the Match: Kev ‘I’m still upset about the All Blacks’ O’Malley who managed to kick a penalty, go off with a blood nose, come back on and then off again after injuring his knee trying to charge down a kick.

Tin Man of the match: None to speak of.

Tries: Guy Walding

Conversions: Kev O’Malley

Players: Dave Struth, James Wiseman, Paul Deane, Adam Stone, Mike O’Sullivan, Adam Hinton, Rory Rigney, Charlie Huntingdon, Nik Dinning, Kev O’Malley, Rory Matthew, Andre Greeff, Wes Grant, Guy Walding, Robin Corbie, Tony Guerion, Miloud Bensaada, Tom Blackwell, Alex Holding-Parsons, Giles Patterson