Hammersmith 3^rd SWARM Grasshopper 2^nd

Hammersmith 3rds triumphed in their first league game of the season with a convincing win over the highly fancied and experienced Grasshopper outfit. After mixed results from the preseason games and a bitter lost last week, the 3rds finally set the foundations for what looks to be a successful season.

The game commenced with a tight tussle up front with the Hammers forwards defending heavily against the larger Grasshopper pack. Smithy's 130kg frame was sorely missed as the Hammers tight five responded with some ferocious tackling. Grasshopper’s big boot kept Hammers camped in their own half early on with Lam, Dinning and Matthew constantly working overtime to clean up the loose ball. The backs repelled numerous crash balls from the Grasshopper inside backs before patiently working the ball back into Grasshopper territory. In the first outing to the visitor's 22, Heymann eyed an opportunity on the blind side, dummied to thin air, brushed pass some lazy Grasshopper defence before racing away to score the first points.

Grasshoppers responded almost immediately with some predictable crash balls at the Hammers backline. The backs stood firm with some offensive tackling after the restart. Unfortunately, a lapse in composure allowed the Grasshopper inside centre to score, levelling the score at 7-7.

The Hammers forwards lifted straight away with continual pick and drives after the restart. The damaging raids were lead by Hinton, Stone and Rudd. The loose forwards worked the backs to excellent field position before O'Malley lead an orchestrated backline move with Lam creating the overlap and unlucky Dinning was tackled agonising close to the try line. The next phase saw O'Malley's neglect the well devised set moves to create one of his disguised, original moves of "Put it thru the hands". However, slick backline hands rocketed the ball back to the right wing of Matthew, who was tackled 2m shy of the try line by some desperate defence. Lam quickly recycled the ball and threw an unselfish pass for Greff to score untouched, giving the home team a 12-7 lead into the break. Grasshoppers were luck to get away lightly at the break as the hard running Hammers looked like breaking out for one or two more tries. Stoney later stated that he felt confident of giving the backs some of the ball!

The 2nd half didn't start well for Hammers, with O'Malley uncharacteristically failing to find the 10m off the restart. To make matters worse, the scrum was delayed in forming as Wiseman (Errr back in 5) was missing and still in the toilet and at the start of the second half! Miraculously, Wiseman somehow missed the highly exclusive Tin Man prize... Hammers soon won back some respect with replacement flanker, Fildes (I'll only play a half) sprinting from a maul to score a try in his debut game. This was one of few opportunities early in the second half as Grasshoppers were determined not to let the home team get away and hit back with a try from an overlap. As expected in the 2nd half, Grasshopper's tactical kicking gained them much field position in Hammers half. Hammer’s hard work in defence was bought undone with a Grasshopper penalty kick directly in front. This reduced the margin to 17-15 with 10min to go!

Heymann in his Man of the Match performance looked menacing around the field with elusive darting runs, charge down, chip and chases and trade mark dummies. The sustained pressure resulted in Heymann delivering an excellent ball to send Fildes through for his 2nd try. Next, Hammers put the game out of reach when Hillier scored a run away try from a bumbled Grasshopper backline move. Hillier couldn't believe his luck as the ball land at his feet and looked as if he was jogging the 50m distance with 3 defenders pouring down his neck. Future opposition should look out as this man was once clocked at 10.8sec for the 100m dash! Grasshopper had numerous raids but gallant defending and running with the ball in hand from Dinning and Lam maintained possession. Hammer's superior ball control and mental toughness caused Grasshopper to crack under the pressure as Hammers over ran Grasshopper with the final 2 tries to win convincingly 5 tries to 2.

A positive start to the season as Hammers 3rd produced a strong team performance.

Final Score: 29-15 to Hammersmith & Fulham

Tries: H Fildes 2, R Heymann, A Greff, Z Hillier.

Conv: K O'Malley, T Blackwell

Man of the Match: Robin Heymann in his 1st game of the season.

Tim Man: Hugo Fildes for his 2 tries on debut in the 2nd half. Wiseman deserves a big mention and will be noted for future indiscretions!

 

Team: P McMeekin, J Wiseman, W Howe, D Rudd, A Stone, A Hinton, I Powell, D Wickman, R Heymann, K O'Malley, N Dinning, A Greff, Z Hillier, R Matthew, S Lam.

Res: H Fildes, J Le Couteur, T Blackwell.

Scoring: 7-0, 7-7, 12-7, 17-7, 17-12, 17-15, 22-15, 29-15.