Hammers 3rd VX suffer from a quiet first half
The classic cliché of a game of two halves, with the boys finally getting into gear in the second half sunshine.
A tough day out for the Hammers 3’s with a team of just 13 players showing up for the beginning of the contest, on a fantastic day for running rugby. A show a chivalry from the Grasshoppers boys coming over to play in the Hammers 10 and 13 jerseys so the game could begin continued with what was a rather one-sided game but played in the right spirit.
The game started badly for the Hammers with possession lost just after receiving the kick off with a mixup between the Hammers 9 and the on-loan 10 leading to a kick through and a defensive lineout 5m out. A maul was called but the ball flew off the top to no one in particular which the opposition pounced on and scored. It went from bad to worse as recently returning Willy Brentnall dislocated his shoulder on the first run of his game and Hammers in need of yet another player from the oppo to keep the game going. The rest of the first half went in a similar fashion with the well organised and young Grasshoppers side putting together phases to score against a stretched defence and then pouncing on Hammers’ mistakes when they were trying to do the same. The half time score would’ve read a lot worse if it hadn’t been for a hard run from Jake Sopher to bash through the first line of defence before pacing around the full back to score his first of the day under the posts giving the lads a bit of hope that we could do some good stuff.
The half time whistle allowed for some rehydration whilst Grasshoppers swapped some players around including their on-field captain jumping across to our side in a show of good sportsmanship that the Hammers’ captain would admittedly not have done so easily! The Hammers settled much better into their work and finally started pulling some phases together with big carries from the front five especially Man of the Match Alejandro Lopez, recently arrived from Spain full of sangria and vitamin D from actually having a summer. A few penalties to the Hammers led to a lineout in the oppo 22 and after a great maul setup, the boys got real close to the line before a number of hard pick and goes led to the Spaniard crossing over for his maiden try for the club. Roars all round and a new sense of hope that the boys in red could get something from the game. The second half ebbed and flowed from there with lots of running rugby and loose turnovers letting both sides into the game. A second try from Jake Sopher stopped the momentum drifting away from the lads before a couple of injuries meant 5 Grasshoppers were playing against their own men before an Oscar Newcombe consolation try made the final score of 58-24 look far more palatable.
A lot of positives to be taken away from the game with the lads sticking in the fight until the end as well as an outstanding defensive effort at 15 from James Spice in his first game back in 8 years, and a great showing from the all the boys in the forwards playing a full 80 in the early autumn sunshine. Going into the half 36-7 down a lot of heads could have dropped but the lads were led by a captain’s performance from Rob McKeon carrying from the front before sustaining an unfortunate ankle injury on the 4G turf. Tries from Jake Sopher x2, Alejandro Lopez and Oscar Newcombe, with 2 conversions from Tim Jones the scorers on the day.
