Hammersmith 3s ‘Blacked out’ by Taine Randell (and UCS Old Boys)

Hammersmith 3s were very unlucky not to come away with a win in the closely fought battle against UCS Old Boys. From the onset it looked to be a tough mission with Hilliar debuting at lock, Dave Struth returning to fill in at prop and Lam marking a former All Black captain, Taine Randell!

The first 10min saw Hammers pinned down in their own 22 but strong clearances from Simpson gained Hammers valuable territory. The reliable line out jumpers of Stone and Hilliar allowed Hammers to challenge play up at the halfway. With the ball as greasy as a bar of soap, both teams repeatedly fumbled and knocked the ball loose. In typical Hammers fashion, the forwards were strong in defence and limited any territory losses as UCS had most of the field possession early. The backs cover defence was up to the task of snuffing out any opposition moves. UCS fullback was caught napping when a thumping 50m kick from Simpson landing just outside UCS 22 and strong chases from Quincy and Lam isolated the man and forced a penalty for not releasing the ball. This gifted the Hammers the opening 3 points through the boot of Blackwell.

The next phase of the game saw Hammers defending their 22 again as the UCS continually crashed the ball up through the centres. Effective tackling from Walding and Quincy swiftly stamped out any breaches in the defensive. Simpson's brilliant effort to hold up what looked to be a certain UCS try was soon forgotten after UCS scored an unconverted try. Hungry forwards of Wickman, Stone and Hooker Jim Davies looked like bulldozers as their vigorous rucking paved highway lengths of field. Hinton playing like his idol, Randell was a stand out in attack and defence. Any Hammers gains were slowed up by the repeated hands in the ruck and not rolling away from the ball. It was remarkable how infringements were continuously missed or ignored!

The 2^nd half started with Hammers trailing 3-5 and the forwards excellent mauling skills and teamwork gained Hammers valuable field territory. While Wes Grant and Simpson broke through the advantage line on a number of occasions but was pulled down short by desperate UCS defence. Walding retired with a hand injury and shortly Lam was forced to the blood bin from a spot foul play that was amazingly unnoticed from the referee! (Leading with a fist in to a hitup was illegal last time I checked?)  This caused a backline reshuffle with Wes instinctively slotting in at flyhalf to call the attacks and the defensive line.

The dominance of the Hammers forwards in defence barely gave up an inch causing UCS to kick long. Any loose ball was cleaned up by Robin Corbie at full back and the Italian Duo of Gianluca Faberi and Claudio Napoli. The trio angle runs were elusive and sliced past several defenders just about every time. Hammers went close to scoring on a number of occasions but we tackled short. In line with the first half, repeated infringements around the ruck went unpenalised and UCS niggles around the fringes were an attempt to frustrate the Hammers. At close range, UCS later scored an unconverted try from the fringe in a game that never really had any momentum in the stop-start conditions.

Despite the close loss, there were many positives that will be taken away from the game including a strong forward performance. The line out was more consistent as Hilliar cemented his spot at lock (coming from the wing) and the scrum was strong, turning over UCS feeds and wheeling it 90° on a couple of occasions. This was helped with the promising return of old heads Dave Struth and Nick Goodwin.

Final Score: 3-10 to UCS Old Boys

Tries: N/A

Penalty: T Blackwell

Man of the Match: Adam Hinton – running and tackling like a madman from the blind side flank

Tim Man: Chris Wade for mistakenly tackling and driving Hilliar over the side line 10m from UCS tryline.

Team: D Struth, J Davies, D Edwards, A Stone, Z Hilliar, A Hinton, C Wade, D Wickman, T Blackwell, S Lam, P Quincy, W Grant, N Simpson, G Walding, R Corbie.

Res: T Guerion, C Napoli, G Faberi, N Goodwin.

Scoring: 3-0, 3-5, 3-10.