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Last Updated: Friday, 21 November 2008 |
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MATCH REPORTS 2008/2009 |
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MATCH REPORTS WILL APPEAR HERE WHEN THE SEASON STARTS |
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| First XV | Second XV | Third XV | Fourth XV | FIFTH XV | VETS XV |
| FIRST XV | |||||
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FIRST XV 32 : 24 GRASSHOPPERS London North West 3 Saturday 15th Novemebr 2008 Away
The Hammers rung the changes after the previous weeks disappointing home loss to St Albans. A staggering 8 changes were made for the away trip to third placed Grasshoppers. Rumours were abound about what was the first glimpse of the ruthless side to the new coaching staff and selection or more to do with the fact that it was autumn international season and we always have our fair quota of Aussie whingers. Incredibly the Hammers couldn’t even muster a full bench so travelled with 17!
The game started brightly for the Hammers and the side in red started to make decent field position. After an infringement by the home side Scott ‘Anchorman’ Richards popped over the penalty. Frustratingly as soon as the points were on the board the Hammers infringed themselves and the pint sized Grasshoppers fly half evened things up. This pattern was repeated a few minutes later so the scores were level at 6 – 6.
A pivotal moment then unfolded. New cap Sion ‘Martyn’ Williams was penalised for not rolling away in the tackle. The referee decided that he had had enough and sent the ginger Welshman to the sin bin. From the resulting penalty kick, a try was scored by the Grasshoppers full back who followed up the shot at goal and collected the rebound off the upright from right under Nick ‘8,9,10’ Kirkham’s nose. A freak score. Luckily the easy conversion was missed so the net result was really just a two point error as the penalty was fairly easy anyway. 11 – 6 to Grasshoppers.
We then had proved to us what we had suspected all along when Dan ‘Jelly Wrestler’ Djikic went in for a 50 50 with the Grasshoppers number 8. The big bruising back rower who had been making yards since the off come off decidedly second best in a nasty clash of heads and had to make yards to A&E shortly afterwards to collect 8 stitches. Meanwhile our Aussie battler wobbled around a bit then carried on as normal. To be fair it is pretty difficult to notice the difference between Djiko when he is concussed or normal. We always knew he had a pretty thick skull!
The score remained at 11 – 6 until half time. The chat during the break had been around standing up a bit more in defense and taking our chances when they came along in the second half.
The Hammers upped their game in the second half. After some good forward work and recycled ball near the opposition try line Ali ‘Scrappy-do’ Lines dived over from short range. Anchorman added the extras so the Hammers hit the front, 11 – 13.
Again, no sooner had the Hammers made progress they coughed up more points, just confirming that old sporting cliché, you’re never more venerable than just after you have scored yourself. Grasshoppers knocked over two penalties to put themselves 17 – 13 up.
There were plenty more twists to some. Spa Break Ringshall made a fantastic run half the length of the field and got dragged down just short. Anchorman Richards was on hand to support. He stayed on his feet well and popped back to Spa Break who powered over. Again Anchorman slotted the extra two, this time from wide out. It was now 17 – 20 to the Hammers.
With time beginning to edge towards the final whistle Grasshoppers broke from a scrum deep within their own half. After some good running and support lines the winger bundled over for a score. It was a good score but the Hammers would be disappointed conceding from so far out. The conversion was made so the home side were back up, 24 – 20.
The chat under the posts for the Hammers was about sticking to the pattern and the chance would come. Sure enough, after some good field position kicking by Sweaky Weeks the Hammers were deep inside the Grasshoppers 22. Scrappy Do lines picked the ball from the break down, looked right to see no-one so set off left. Squeezing between two defenders and using his legendary height, he reached out to the line for a second score, just. Anchorman Richards again added the extras and the Hammers hit the lead again 24 – 27.
The last few minutes were a tense affair as the Hoppers were within a score, but then with the final play of the game Sion ‘Martyn’ Williams picked and drove powerfully near the line and scored a well deserved try on debut. The other first team debutant, Nick ‘Timekeeper’ Ball was quick to congratulate the Welshman.
The final score was 24 -32 and the Hammers were very pleased with the bounce back result on the road, against the third placed team.
Tinman went to ‘8,9,10’ Kirkham for his tomfoolery under the posts which cost us a try and Man of match went to ‘Neilo’s younger brother’, Tom Parkinson for a solid game at 15.
Next week sees a welcome week off from league rugby as the Hammers get on the road for a trip down to Trojans RFC in Southampton for the EDF Cup. The lads are looking forward to it and half expect that is where Ryan ‘The Face’ Dilley has been the last few weeks (as we haven’t seen him) based on his recent fancy dress exploits.
Team: Blyghton, Graham, Kemp, Williams, Kirkham, Hemingway, Ball, Wallace, Lines, Weeks, Hamnett, Ringshall, Richards, Djikic, Parkinson. Welch, Rogan.
Tries: Lines (2), Ringshall, Williams.
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FIRST XV 22 : 3 FINCHLEY London North West 3 Saturday 1st Novemebr 2008 Away
The Hammers travelled up to North West London keen to continue where they left off against Twickenham the week before. There were a couple of changes to the team with Tim ‘Zoe’s mate’ Kemp coming in for Andy ‘Puppy’ Welch in the pack and Simon ‘Spa Break’ Ringshall and Tom ‘Neilo’s younger brother’ Parkinson coming in for the injured Nathan ‘Cage Rage’ Gee and the holidaying Scot ‘Anchorman’ Richards in the backs.
The dawn of November had brought with it some inclement weather and when the convoy rolled up there seemed to be a certain amount lethargy amongst the troops. However that evaporated when we made it into the changing rooms where Dai ‘Another Day’ Michael had done what he had threatened to do the week before and brought a music system to get the lads fired up.
So into the still wet kit we changed foot tapping and head nodding along to a little Michael Bubble and Metalica.
The Hammers started with both the slope and wind in their favour so they needed to make the first 40 minutes count. After the usual botch up of the kick off collection the away side got their hands on the ball. They immediately began to assert their game plan and make yards with Barry ‘The Sommelier’ O’Sullivan and Dave ‘Jesus’ Wallace to the fore.
The Hammers were able to knock over a penalty for an early lead. The first try came courtesy of the prodigious OSullivan who powered over on the right hand side with some good support from the other forwards.
The wet weather was not putting off Jimmy ‘Darts’ Graham one jot. The Hammers line out was fully greased up and working well and presenting the backs with a decent supply of ball. From one such line out Sweaky Weeks called a ‘Rum’ ball and sent Bluey Ben Rumble through a gap. He sent a long arching pass over towards Stumps Kenward. The ball hit the deck but stumps made use of his short legs, scooped it up and slid over in the corner.
Still the Hammers wanted more as they knew the pressure would come on from the home side in the second half when they had the elements. A long range penalty from Weeks edged the Hammers further ahead. The final try of the half came from Simon ‘Spa Break’ Ringshall, the rain running off his exfoliated and rejuvenated skin, who cut a good angle and showed strength to power over.
At the half time whistle the score stood at Finchley 3 HRFC 22. The half time talk was all about how to play the conditions to close out the game.
As the second half went on the conditions got steadily worse. The rain got heavier and the wind stronger strangely this ended up helping the Hammers as when Finchley needed to chase the game the conditions just didn’t allow it.
The second half was all about the Hammers keeping hold of the ball working up the hill with series of tight plays. When Finchley got the ball the Hammers defended resolutely keeping their line uncrossed. There were a few scary moments which included Stumps Kenward and Bluey Rumble contriving to play hot potato with the ball due to the wet conditions but overall it was a decent and controlled second half performance resulting in a 0 – 0 score line.
Dai ‘Another Day’ Michael the head coach was happy with the overall performance but thought the second half discipline was a little lax. This involved Rory ‘The Gob’ Rigney taking a 10 minute breather for a no arms tackle during a Finchley counter attack right in front of the home support. He later claimed it was the crowd reaction to the offence rather then the offence itself that he got binned for.
Team: Blyghton, Graham, Kemp, Wallace, Dawson, Mowbray, Rigney, O’Sullivan, Lines, Weeks, Rumble, Ringshall, Sweeting, Parkinson, Kenward Subs: Welch, Olutayo, Kirkham
Tries: O’Sullivan, Kenward, Ringshall
Man of the Match: Rory ‘Motormouth’ Rigney Tin Man: Ben ‘Bluey’ Rumble
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FIRST XV 34 : 15 TWICKENHAM London North West 3 Saturday 25th October 2008 Home
With the Hammers league record sitting at 2 from 5 before the game against Twickenham the EDF Cup game the previous weekend against Brentwood provided a welcome distraction from the pressure cooker environment that is London North West 3 rugby. A convincing win against Brentwood also got the Hammers back to winning ways and meant they approached the Twickenham game full of confidence.
Both teams were sitting on the same number of points before the game so there was at least one guaranteed league spot up for grabs depending on the result. The home side won the toss and elected to play with the wind towards the tennis courts in the first half.
From the hanging kick off the Hammers immediately put themselves under pressure by botching the take. Some immediate defending was needed and second best defensive line in the league held firm. Soon after this initial scare the Hammers began to assert their game plan and move ball between forwards and backs probing for miss matches.
An early infringement by the visitors allowed Scott ‘Anchor Man’ Richards to have a pop at goal. However with the kick well within range especially with the tail wind the skipper Ali ‘Little fella’ Lines was surprised to see Anchor Man furiously shaking his head when he was asked if he wanted the shot. It was too late however as the referee had already pointed towards the posts presumably assuming, quite probably rightly, that if his 86 year old gran could knock this one over, then surely the front line kicker from the Hammers would fancy it. Sure enough, as if to make a point Scott knocked it wide and Twickenham restarted with a drop out.
After working their way into the visitors 22 Sweaky Weeks called a strike move and Nathan ‘CageRage’ Gee went over through some slightly flimsy defence to score on the right hand side. Unfortunately in the act of scoring (or celebrating, no one quite knows) Nathan injured his knee and is likely to miss a couple of key games.
That necessitated an early reshuffle with Scott Richards moving to 12, Stumps Kenward moving to 15 and Tom ‘Neilo’s younger brother’ Parkinson coming on to the wing.
As the half progressed the Hammers proceeded to play some of their best rugby of the season with the only slight negatives being a slightly wobbly scrum and line out.
Tries came from ‘Stumps’ Kenward, cutting a nice line off Squeaky Weeks, Ben ‘Bluey’ Rumble, snaking his way over in the corner, Scott ‘Anchor Man’ Richards who made sure he ran right round under the posts to give himself a chance with the kick and Tom ‘The Young Nielo’ Parkinson topping off an outrageous interception with an even more outrageous swan dive.
At half time the home side were 31 – 3 (ish) to the good. The second half was always going to be a bit tougher into the wind but it turned out tougher than expected. The only points the Hammers had to show for their second half efforts were from one Scott Richards penalty.
Twickenham played a better game in the second half moving the ball around positively and using the wind well and came up with two scores of their own.
The final score was 34 – 15 but it could have been better. On two separate occasions in the second half The Hammers butchered chances with the ball virtually over the try line. The first occasion pretty much settles the Tin Man of the season debate before November starts! After some great approach work by the whole team, the ball came out to the left. With a massive overlap The Hammers could have chosen any of about three attackers to score. Bionic John Mowbray put his hand up and lumbered towards the line. Just as he was in the process of diving in he inexplicably threw the ball forward. The chat in the bar after the game was that he had had a momentary relapse and had gone back to his early netballing career in New Zealand where the idea was to throw the ball forward. We can only hope that the quiet kiwi has learnt from his mistake and that we wont be seeing anymore of his netball skills this season. To help him get over his embarrassment he was getting lots of hugs late into the night by his forward colleague Nick ‘8,9,10’ Kirkham in the Wheatsheaf.
The second cock up was delivered by Bluey Ben Rumble and Mark Glassjaw Sweeting. Again after decent approach work, Rumble had the try line at his mercy. He elected to pass to Sweeting when a dive would have probably seen him through and Glassjaw Sweeting managed to drop the pass. It was the Chuckle Brothers on a rugby field.
In the end neither howler cost the team and on reflection the home side were happy with the end result. A particularly pleasing aspect was the much reduced penalty count, six all game, which was something head coach, Dai ‘for you’ Michael spoke to the team about before the game after last week when yellow cards were sprayed around like confetti for multiple infringements.
Team: Blyghton, Graham, Welch, Dawson, Wallace, O’Sullivan, Rigney, Mowbray, Lines, Weeks, Rumble, Gee, Sweeting, Kenward, Richards. Lacey, Parkinson, Kirkham.
Tries: Gee, Kenward, Richards, Rumble, Parkinson
Tin Man: Bionic John Mowbray
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FIRST XV 43 v IMPERIAL MEDICALS 21
Saturday saw the First tXV go into their match against Imperial Medicals on the back of 2 straight defeats, but with confidence and hunger high after a strong Thursday training session, the match-up between last season’s second and third placed teams was destined to be a classic. The conditions were near perfect for rugby, not a cloud in the sky nor a mere zephyr in the air. The Medics groundsman had produced an outstanding surface to play on, it was akin to the infamous green produced for the 2007 Potters Holidays World Bowls final. The stand was packed with Frosty Jacks swilling home fans as the match kicked off with both sides hoping for their first league wins. From the outset the Hammers’ game plan was clear; intimidate the smaller, students by repeatedly battering the opposition defensive line into submission. The H&F forwards dominated the first half, the back row was once again superb, the line-out functioned excellently and Tim ‘The Shoulders’ Kemp had an outstanding game from tight-head. This up-front domination was embodied by all 3 first-half tries coming from members of the pack, with touch downs from The Shoulders, The Big BOS Man and Ryan ‘In a Relationship’ Dilly finished off a well worked move. All 3 were duly slotted by Scott Richards, who came on as an early substitute for Mark Sweeting.
The first 40 was unfortunately marred by an ugly incident. ‘In A Relationship’ finally aired his grievances on Ali ‘skipper’ Lines after the captain had needlessly picked on the retiring open-side for another week. After the pitch had been cleared of stray rattles and dummies the game continued with the students beginning to come back into the reckoning, spurred forward by some penetrating runs from their powerfully built, athletic blind side. The first half ended with a sin-binning a-piece for the medics and the Hammers fly-half, Cameron Beveridge. Thanks to some sharp defence from Hamnett off a Medics chip through the visitors went in at the break 21-7 ahead.
Despite the calming, constructive words of the Hammersmith coaches the second half started much like the end of the first, with the mid-afternoon TV watchers in the ascendancy. The Hammers’ now trademark 30 minute middle-of-the-game lull let the Medics get within 9 points after excellent runs from their right winger who H&F had managed to starve in the first half. Dai Michael came onto the pitch to rouse the troops and in no uncertain words told the boys to kill off the game, and that they did. The Hammers reverted back to the tactics of the first half with bulldozing runs from Blyghts and a wonder tackle from Big Al Dawson which led to tries from Hamnett and a second for Dilly. Some excellent mauling from the pack off a line-out in the opposition 22 gave the Hammers 10 field position and go ahead to dart over from 15 yards out, with the spritely Aussie getting spiked into the ground like a Masai spear bisecting its prey. Scott Richards had his kicking boots on all day and missed only 1 of his 7 attempts, rounding off a well-deserved 43-21 victory for the Hammers, which the Head Coach best described as ‘first class’. With a number of notable 2ndXV performances in their 53-17 win at Civil Service the coaches and captains will have an enviable selection nightmare on Tuesday evening.
With spirits high post-game the Hammers rinsed off their sweaty bodies and slipped into their Sunday best to send off one of the club’s most-loved members, Henry ‘Doofie’ Paddison. The young man with model looks and big dreams will be missed while he pursues a life in Bermuda, I feel that his young lady will not miss his shower ‘banter’, however. There were a few notable absences from the evening’s festivities; Mark ‘Ernest’ Hemmingway had heard that the ladies team’s own Eva Braun would be joining us on the Putney leg of the crawl, and with his protective eye wear not yet in hand, he cried off. Although the Big BOS Man had claimed at 8.30pm that he was turning in for the night he was later overheard by the scribe at 3.30am uncharacteristically asking if anyone wanted to go on for a few more as he ‘knew a little place’.
To sum up, an excellent performance on the pitch, confidence and spirits are high for the visit of Hampstead next week, and a huge pat on the back for the work Dai and Dave have done with the boys on the training park; I’m sure they will feel it all worthwhile after Saturday’s performance. Paddy, please don’t leave…….
The Scribe.
Team: Blyghton, Graham, Kemp, Dawson, Kirkham, Hemmingway (Rogan), Dilly, O’Sullivan, Lines ©, Beveridge, Hamnett, Ringshall, Sweeting (Richards), Olutayo, Parkinson. Sub. not used: Lacey
Tries: Dilly (2), Beveridge, Hamnett, Kemp, O’Sullivan, Conversions: Richards (5) Penalties: Richards
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FIRST XV 11 v TABARD 12
The Hammers fielded a decent, if somewhat fairly new looking side and were looking forward to the challenge of playing against last years London 2 side that came down this year. There were some nasty rumours that one usual starters was unavailable for selection as he had gone away for a Spa weekend. We will be checking the authenticity of this rumour with Simon ‘Sampras’ Ringshall in due course.
Tabard arrived nice and punctually in their own minibus, their own minibus, and both teams set about their preparations. The game started very evenly and penalties were traded. Further penalty opportunities were offered to the home side but on evidence Scott ‘Shifty’ Richards had decided from early on that the Hammers were going to win this one with tries not penalty kicks and continually popped them all wide.
Soon after this, one of the Hammers 5 new first team league caps tried to make his physical presence felt somewhat illegally with a flying clothes line ‘tackle’. Nathan ‘Cage Rage’ Gee took a 10 minute breather for the offence and the rumours on the side line, as he was traipsing off behind his own posts, were that it was a genius tactical move on his part, a la David Beckham getting booked and missing a dead rubber, as he knew he didn’t have 80 minutes in his legs yet.
The other starting new caps, Mark ‘Ernie’ Hemingway, Dan ‘Dynamo’ Becker and Cameron ‘Pending’ Beveridge were also making their presence felt round the park but generally in a more legal way.
The home side began to build some pressure and finally it told when Mark ‘Glassjaw’ Sweeting broke only tackles for once and went over in the top left corner attacking the tennis court end. Of course ‘Shifty’ Richards missed the extra 2 but the Hammers were in the lead.
In the second half the Hammers created a gilt edge chance for ‘Jelly Wrestler’ Djkic to go over in the corner but we can only assume that after seeing some of the Shifty’s earlier kicks he decided he needed to get nearer the posts so he decided to cut in. Unfortunately this took him into the path of the only remaining covering defender who couldn’t believe his luck. He gratefully swallowed up the Jelly Wrestler, much as a Lion Ant digs a pit in the sand and waits for unsuspecting prey to simply fall into his waiting mandibles. Would the Hammers live to regret the chance?
Meanwhile the visitors were keeping in touch with the home side with some excellent kicking from the fly half both out of hand and with a drop goal or two to his name. The match entered the final few minutes when Ryan ‘In a relationship’ Dilley got pinged on the half way line for a squeeze ball offence. Up stepped the prodigious Tabard 10 and placed the ball for a kick. Distance was no problem but he pulled the kick slightly left. All the Hammers had to do was see out the last minute starting with the 22 drop out. Cameron ‘Pending’ Beveridge hoofed the ball down field. Unfortunately the home side left a hole in the chasing line and the grateful Tabard 8 streaked through the gap. ‘Shifty’ Richards made a good one on one tackle under the sticks; in the resulting fight for the ball Barry ‘The Sommelier’ O’Sullivan, who had a very strong all round game, was penalised for going off his feet. The resultant kick sent the Hammers down by a point 11 - 12 and crashing to their second defeat of the season.
Spirits were initially low after the game but were buoyed somewhat after Pete ‘Evergreen’ Lacey brought a crate of Becks into the changing room and we realised that progress had been made from last week and we were moving in the right direction.
Team: Blyghton, Becker, Lacey, Kirkham, Wallace, Hemingway, Dilley, O’Sullivan, Lines, Beveridge, Djikic, Gee, Sweeting, Olutayo, Richards. Subs: Higgins, Rigney, Clark
Tries: Sweeting Man of the match: Barry O’Sullivan Tin Man: Ryan Dilley
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FIRST XV 18 v 21
HARPENDEN
We set our scene in the verdant pastures of Harpenden, beneath a benign autumnal sun which had deigned to temporarily replace the incessant rainfall of the previous months.
The visiting Hammers, high in confidence and with a number of new additions to the squad - Jimmy “darts” Graham, Rogan the Barbarian and Scott ‘Teflon’ Richards to name but a few – arrived with time in abundance for the new Dai-hard warm-up.
In stark contrast to last season’s trend, the away team started strongly with some well-structured phases leading to a kickable penalty to open the account. The home team mirrored this effort to draw level after a Hammersmithian indiscretion.
To the dismay of partisan onlookers, the middle third of the match bore witness to some less decisive passages of play from the boys in red, allowing the home team to dominate the scoreline with two tries born of anomalous errors in an otherwise well-marshalled defense.
The opposition began to visibly tire in the final third of the match and play was punctuated with frequent pauses whilst legs were stretched and laces tied – a great frustration to the Hammers who were, to a man, fit as proverbial violins (or something of that ilk)
Despite a heroic effort to rescue the game, with tries from John ‘The Wheezer’ Hetherington with help from his friends and Dan ‘Jelly Wrestler’ Dijkic in the closing stages, two plays which almost resembled what the squad have been working on in preseason, the Hammers fell foul of a 21-18 scoreline which perhaps flattered the home team on the day.
To conclude this summary of the days events on a positive note I shall quote the much-loved Dr. Reinhard Schwergelbitzen,
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FOURTH XV 17 v 26
ROSSLYN PARK NOMADS
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FIRST VETS XV 18 v 21 GRASSHOPPERS
VETS
The day had arrived that the vets would turned out again to play through the aches and pains against a Grasshoppers vets team to celebrate Tony Richards final game for the club after 30 years of continuous services to H & F RFC from playing as a colts and various H & F senior men’s teams starting as a fast and strong wing forward to his final resting place of front row forward.
A great multitude of former players had turned up for the day festivities and was great to see such legends together again such as Doug Bone, Andy Barrett, Paul Beechman, Perry Mahoney, Paul Callum, Ray Bateman, Nick Watkins, Andy Whiteman, Terry See, John Bradshaw, Sean Richardson, Bhomdat Mahraj, Chris Kennedy, Gareth Bone, Roy Evans, Francis DeRoza, Pete Ward, John Mortimer, Andy Bevan, Pascal Peters, Mick O’Melia, Jon Chapman, Mike O’Sullivan, Dave Clarke, Es Hitchcock and of course the one and only John Fraser-Andrews (JFA) once again gracing the grounds of Hurlingham Park.
Also present were two former chairmen of the club, Ed Naylor and John Matthewman who both needed several beers to improve their memory of where they were for the afternoon.
A large expectant crowd awaited the teams to take to the field, but a complaint had arrived from the H & F first XV players who were not happy that the crowd watching the vets was larger than their game. It was explained to the first XV players that free beer, port and wine was available on the second team pitch and more action was definitely on the cards in the vet’s game, on and off the field than watching an EDF cup game against a team from Essex in a cage.
As usual there was a slight reluctance to get the vets game under way, following the H & F vets watching the Grasshoppers team pre-match warm up. They didn’t look like a vets team and this was expressed to our club fixture secretary Lyndon Walters in the strongest terms possible, who quickly disappeared to the changing rooms after being chased by several irate H & F vets, who couldn’t get near him anyway due to an excessive amount of metal fencing that appear over night at Hurlingham, which surrounded both pitches, which no doubt Lyndon had authorised just in case trouble arose from his usual fixture fixing for lower H & F friendly matches.
But the Hammers vets were encouraged to see that Terry Alleyne would be the referee of their game, therefore ensuring that any of their off sides, handling errors or late tackles during the game would not be penalised by him, but this would also apply to Grasshoppers team, as Terry likes an open game
The game was to be played in four 20 minutes quarters, so that the vets could get some oxygen gas in between the beers and port that was available at stoppages, which was constant requirement for these types of games.
The game started at a furious pace with the Hammers taking the game to Grasshoppers with Andy Barrett and John Bradshaw doing characteristic robust runs that nearly lead to tries, but lack of support meant that the opportunities were lost.
The Hammers team held their own in the first twenty minutes, but age and injuries were going to play a major part in this even match. In the second quarter some of the younger vets came on behind the scum, but were supplemented by a few old players to add some weight to the scrum, which provided dividends as H & F pushed the Grasshoppers pack all over the place for the next twenty minutes, so giving lots of good ball to the younger backs who made good use of the possession and were unfortunate not to score on several occasions. During one of theses raids into the Grasshoppers 22 metre area, Chris Hunt in support of a ruck set up by Francis DeRosa, gave a great pass towards the referee who was amazed to see the ball directed at him. Maybe it was that Chris Hunt was taken by surprise to be so far up the field in an attacking position that the ball felt like a hot potato and saw his chairman standing somewhere close to his usual position of fly half and said to himself “There you go Terry, its all yours”, not remembering in his old aged that in fact the chairman was actually refereeing the game. A Grasshoppers winger couldn’t believe his luck at this turn of good fortune and promptly picked up the loose ball and sprinted unopposed to the try line as the H & F players watched from the opposition 22 metre line in a state of confusion, which called for some more port and beer to be consumed.
The try was converted to make it 7-0 to Grasshoppers at half time.
Not to be out done Hammers vets came on strong in the third quarter, with several driving mauls and rucks set up by Peter and Trevor Ward, from one of theses attacks Andy Barrett sprinted to the line from 30 metres out to score an unconverted try, so making the score 7-5 to Grasshoppers at the end of the third quarter.
The H&F big guns were sent on in the final quarter to try and reduce the deficit and the game became very physical with Mike O‘Sullivan, Terry See, Tony Richards, Tony Ryan and Steve Beddingfield knocking lumps out of the opposition with driving runs with Jamie Manuel adding some robust rucking to the break down area.
As usual JFA was talking a lot upsetting everyone in the immediate vacinity who took exception to being told how to play rugby by some city stock broker who was still probably earning a lot of money through the credit crunch, but luckily for JFA, as he was small person no one could see him to shut him up in the tradition Hammersmith way.
In between this mayhem Mike O ‘Sullivan did one of his world famous dummies from ten metres out and drove over the line to score a typical O’Sullivan try. Unfortunately the conversion was missed so making the score 10-7 to H & F vets. By now the game was taking its toll on the H & F vets and many walking wounded were appearing on the touchline unable to take to the pitch again and so Grasshoppers started to dominate the game as H & F players were getting tired and eventually they got the try they wanted with a convertion, to win the game 14-10 after several phases of play.
Everyone said thank god the game was over so, that they could now do what was needed and drink as much as they wanted, from the amply stocked drinks dustbin.
A good afternoon’s rugby was had by all and everyone was looking forward to the long walk back around the newly fenced off area and to have a 10 minute chat to the three sin-binned First XV players standing behind the opposition posts before having a nice cold shower and heading off to the Wheatsheaf for more refreshments and meet more former Hammer legends of the game Peter Tolputt and Pete Baillie. |
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Email info@FulhamRugby.co.uk for further information |
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